State-based insurer should drop tar sands pipeline

September 14, 2020

We as Connecticut citizens should be wary of companies insuring fossil fuels, since fossil fuels are among the primary causes of climate change. As a state representative for Stamford, I’ve seen firsthand the enormous changes global warming is causing in our coastal city. The frequency and intensity of superstorms and hurricanes is due in part to changes in our climate.

I grew up as an environmental and social justice activist, raising awareness of the damages we are doing to our ecosystem and the long-term impacts to our health and our planet’s survival.

“Once in a generation” ecological events now happen every few years, making it urgent that we act decisively to reverse the path we are on. That means making systemic changes to what are clearly systemic obstacles.

Here in Connecticut, the “insurance capital of the world,” we need to talk about how our state’s flagship industry contributes to a global economy that drives and depends on unchecked resource extraction and exploitation of fossil fuels. Insurers are part of the vast system of financial players that support that destruction.

The insurance industry has skirted under the radar, for too long, insuring and investing in fossil fuel projects and exacerbating the climate crisis for profit. For any fossil fuel project to be built or maintained — be it a pipeline, a coal plant, or an offshore drilling rig — insurers must be there to enable it. Insurers also invest their clients’ premiums to keep their money growing, and they are among some of the biggest investors in oil, gas, and coal companies in the world.

W.R. Berkley, based in Greenwich, was recently revealed as one of the companies insuring the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline. Indigenous, frontline and environmental advocates in the U.S. and Canada have been fighting to stop this destructive pipeline for years.

The extraction of oil sands for the pipeline requires the destruction of carbon-storing forests in Canada, and the process dumps toxic pollutants into the air and water. The pipeline has already had 85 spills. It’s one of the most destructive oil operations in the world.

Earlier this month, more than 140 organizations representing 24 million people sent a letter to the current insurers of the pipeline, urging them to stop insuring it given its contribution to climate change, Indigenous rights violations, and environmental injustices.

I am hopeful that W.R. Berkley will do the right thing and walk away from the project.

It would not be unprecedented. Trans Mountain recently revealed that the pipeline’s lead insurer, Zurich, would not be renewing its policy. Earlier in the summer, German insurer Talanx also stated that it would drop the project, following a recently-adopted policy on oil sands. Fellow German insurer Munich Re signaled the same.

That means we have a real chance to stop W.R. Berkley from renewing its policy with the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Indigenous leaders and nations, climate justice groups, community organizations, and a physicians’ association have all called on Berkley to drop their coverage of Trans Mountain and stop insuring all tar sands expansion. If we are going to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, the worst and dirtiest oil and coal projects must be rejected now.

We in Connecticut have a vital role to play in making sure the people of the insurance industry understand that climate change is here and that their time to act is now.

The world is shifting. Connecticut needs to shift too.

State Rep. David Michel represents the 146th District in Stamford.

[Top photo: Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez / Houston Chronicle - Attorney Eugene Kung, left to right, Dr. Tane Ward, Neskonlith te Secwepemc chief Judy Wilson, and Sum of Us capitol markets advisor Lisa Lindsley talk during a press conference in Houston following an appearance at Kinder Morgan International's Annual General Meeting on May 9, 2018. Wilson talked about the opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline.]