In a new public relations campaign, environmentalists are calling on insurance companies including AIG, Liberty Mutual and Chubb to stop offering coverage to pipeline projects connecting to Western Canada’s tar sands fields, which are among the most carbon intensive oil deposits in the world.
“It is unacceptable for insurance companies to be hiking premiums for homeowners because of the floods and fires caused by climate change, yet at the same time profit from making climate change worse by insuring and investing in the worst projects for the worst fossil fuels such as tar sands and coal,” said Patrick McCully, climate and energy program director at Rainforest Action Network.
The campaign against insurance companies already appears to be showing some signs of success.
The European insurance giants AXA and Allianz have both announced they will begin divesting from the coal industry, ceasing to provide coverage for mines and coal-fired power plants in the decades ahead.