By Did you know that Liberty Mutual is abandoning its customers that live in wildfire-affected areas across the western U.S., while simultaneously investing more than $6 billion in fossil fuels and insuring coal and tar sands projects?
The hypocrisy is astounding. Instead of addressing its role in fueling the climate crisis, Liberty Mutual is trying to get off the hook for protecting communities on the frontlines of climate change. What’s worse is that Liberty Mutual is not the only insurance company doing so. That’s why we recently launched a campaign targeting the U.S. insurance industry for its crucial role in the fossil fuel economy (to learn more about the connections between insurers and fossil fuels, check out our short video).
RAN and the Insure Our Future campaign are calling on U.S. insurance companies to stop insuring and investing in fossil fuels, starting with two of the most carbon-intensive sectors: coal and tar sands. And we’re already winning! Two months ago, Chubb became the first U.S. insurer to adopt a policy restricting coal insurance. All eyes are now on Liberty Mutual to take even stronger action and rule out coal AND tar sands.
Why Liberty Mutual?
- Liberty Mutual is neck-deep in fossil fuels. As the world’s fifth largest global property and casualty insurer, Liberty Mutual provides insurance coverage for everything from individual homes and cars to multinational energy companies and oil pipelines. In fact, it is one of the top U.S. insurers of fossil fuels, providing insurance coverage for coal, tar sands, and other dirty fossil fuel projects around the globe. Liberty Mutual also invests $6.6 billion in fossil fuel companies like TransCanada, Kinder Morgan, and Glencore.
- At the same time, Liberty Mutual is abandoning customers facing climate impacts. Liberty Mutual is withdrawing coverage from and jacking up the costs of insurance in areas prone to climate change impacts, like wildfire-affected counties in California. A Liberty Mutual spokesperson called dropping policies and raising rates a “necessary step to responsibly manage our overall exposure to wildfires,” yet Liberty Mutual refuses to manage the role it is playing in causing the climate crisis. Talk about hypocrisy.
- Liberty Mutual is an insurer of the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline in Canada. This means that Liberty Mutual is lined up to insure the pipeline expansion, which would carry hundreds of thousands of tar sands oil barrels, lock in expanded production of Alberta tar sands, and pose a grave threat to Indigenous rights. First Nations that would be directly impacted by the new pipeline route are leading fierce resistance on the ground and in the courtrooms. Liberty Mutual’s willingness to insure this pipeline reflects the fact that the company has no policies in place to steer clear of projects that have not secured the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of Indigenous communities.
- Liberty Mutual refuses to talk about climate change publicly. Liberty Mutual has no climate or sustainability policy. While other insurers sound the alarm, Liberty Mutual remains silent. One of the only ways they have publicly talked about climate change is when selling insurance to corporate executives to protect against the “growing wave of litigation stemming from the alleged improper release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.” In other words, Liberty Mutual is providing insurance coverage for fossil fuel executives that are at risk of being sued over climate change.
Tell Liberty Mutual to stop insuring coal and tar sands. It’s time they insure our future. Your voice is critical in pressuring Liberty Mutual to take bold action now. The health of communities and our planet depend on it.
