Insurance Companies Are Abandoning Homeowners Facing Climate Disasters
Insurance companies are leaving homeowners at the mercy of climate catastrophes they helped create.
A firefighter battles a house fire caused by wildfires in the Oak Park neighborhood of Ventura, California, in 2018. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Major insurance companies are choosing to protect the fossil fuel industry while abandoning homeowners whose safety and livelihoods are being threatened by the industry’s carbon emissions.
Insurance giants Chubb, Liberty Mutual, and AIG are three of the biggest insurers of fossil fuel infrastructure around the world. But the companies have just announced plans to scale back their homeowner coverage in California, where they insist future climate-related losses will likely prevent them from turning a profit.
The coverage withdrawals may soon ignite a big money battle in the state’s legislature, pitting insurance giants against lawmakers trying to preserve coverage for their constituents. Meanwhile, climate campaigners are decrying what they say is a fundamental hypocrisy.
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