FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS CONTACT: Mary Lovell 206-502-3949 mary@ran.org
MEDIA QUALITY PHOTOS UPLOADED AND UPDATED HERE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rainforestactionnetwork/albums/72177720314802987/
(Naples, FL) Feb 16, 2023 — Chubb, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel insurers, had its signature golf tournament interrupted by people who say they’re suffering from Chubb’s backing of fossil fuels. As golfers went to put on the 18th hole, these critics rushed the green and unfurled a banner saying CHUBB: STOP INSURING OIL AND GAS. Those responsible were quickly removed from the Tiburón Golf Course.
Golf courses are often decried by the environmental community, yet the message here is that the problem is not the golf course, but the sponsor. The same community leaders who worked to get the White House to temporarily halt LNG/methane terminals have also met with Chubb, to ask them to stop backing LNG/methane projects. As Floridians struggle to pay insurance premiums that are quadrupling, insurers do little other than leave markets. These leaders say insurers play a role in climate disasters by insuring and investing in fossil fuels and then raising costs on ordinary people.
Chubb is the only US insurer with any restrictions on conventional oil and gas at all, announced in 2023. Analysis from Rainforest Action Network remark that the policy is welcome, but has gaps. For example, Gulf coast community leaders say Chubb is supporting the biggest fossil fuel build of this generation by insuring methane terminals like Rio Grande LNG. Chubb’s policy with NextDecade, the company building Rio Grande LNG, expires March 8th, and communities want the insurer to not renew it. Texans at the planned site say the methane gas terminal will destroy their tourist economy, compromise their health, and dig up sacred ancestral sites of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas.
Chubb is facing an increase in pressure with an upcoming week of protests planned at the offices of insurance companies all around the world, with communities from Africa, Asia, Europe, South America and the U.S. taking aim at companies that have not ruled out oil and gas expansion. A recent online letter campaign calling out the company’s role in Rio Grande LNG resulted in hundreds of thousands of messages sent directly to the CEO of the company.
“Chubb is insuring Rio Grande LNG, massive methane export planned near my home community of Brownsville, Texas” said Bekah Hinojosa, South Texas Environmental Justice Network. “Methane export facilities are destroying the land, water, and air- today we are calling on CEO Evan Greenberg, to respect our communities and stop backing this explosive LNG buildout.”
“Only 4% of people affected have moved back to their homes in a community decimated by a urban fire in 2021 – they are waiting on help from insurance,” said Shawna Ambrose, a representative from Rainforest Action Network who rushed the green today. “While Chubb pulls insurance from neighborhoods in Boulder, they still insure LNG/methane projects that make wildfires in Colorado that much worse.”
“Talk about shooting yourself in the foot,” said Dami Feral, a Floridian upset about insurance hikes that rushed the green today. “Insurance is supposed to protect us from disaster, not make it worse and then leave us high and dry…actually, they leave us low and flooded around here. They insure these methane gas industry giants, but they won’t insure affordable housing facing hurricanes and flooding in the same areas.”
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