Insurance and Support of Fossil Fuel

Are you shopping for home, auto, or other insurance? I was, and I nearly purchased some from Safeco, which is part of Liberty Mutual Insurance. From aRolling Stone article and other sources, I learned that Liberty Mutual provides indispensable insurance to TC Energy (a fossil fuel infrastructure company) in order to enable construction of the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline, which would carry extracted tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to the U.S. It appears that Big Oil, Big Money (some large banks are still bankrolling oil), and Big Insurance work in unison to prop up the fossil fuel economy at the expense of climate change.

 

According to Reuters, a group of about 60 American businesses recently urged their insurers to stop providing coverage to and investment in the fossil fuel industry. They said in part, “The insurance industry is underwriting and investing in fossil fuels which we now know are the key drivers of climate change. As insurance customers, we are therefore expressing our desire for insurance coverage in the U.S. market that isn’t tied to supporting fossil fuels and actively supports renewable energy.” Insurers targeted in the letter include American International Group Inc, Axis Capital, Chubb Ltd, Hartford Financial Services, and Liberty Mutual.

 

I decided that I did not want any profits Liberty Mutual made from my purchase to be used to finance fossil fuel companies. I shopped some more and purchased from another insurance company. If you are in the market for insurance, please consider the climate-related track record of the company you’re buying from.