In 2024, the Federal Insurance Office, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Treasury, worked with state insurance commissioners on what’s known as a data call. The initiative gathered zip code level data from across the country on how climate change affected property insurance from 2018 through 2022.
This is important because most major insurance companies are insuring fossil fuel projects and investing in fossil fuel companies — even as they stop insuring customers in climate-vulnerable states and raise rates on everyone else because of the climate crisis caused by fossil fuels.
Collecting insurance data is the first step to dealing with this issue, but there was one problem: Neither the Federal Insurance Office nor the National Association of Insurance Commissioners would release the data to the public.
To address this, Green America partnered with 19 other groups on a letter urging the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to release the data. A second letter signed by 37 organizations urged the Federal Insurance Office to do the same.
When our letters did not produce results, advocacy groups launched a grassroots campaign seeking signatures on a petition asking the Federal Insurance Office to make the data it had gathered public. A total of 43,622 people signed the petition in a campaign organized by Consumer Reports, Americans for Financial Reform, Green America, and Public Citizen.
“Our members across the country are paying ever higher rates for property insurance — and that’s when they can even get insurance if they live in a climate-vulnerable area,” said Cathy Becker, responsible finance campaign director at Green America. “Yet instead of addressing the climate crisis behind these increased costs, big insurance companies are insuring and investing in its chief cause — the burning of fossil fuels. The least the Federal Insurance Office could do is release the data it has gathered about insurance company practices, so we can hold them accountable.”
On January 16, our actions produced results: The Federal Insurance Office finally released a report, “Analyses of U.S. Homeowners Insurance Markets, 2018-2022: Climate-Related Risks and Other Factors,” along with a treasure trove of zip-code level raw data.
The report was “the most comprehensive look yet at the effect of climate change on the American home insurance market,” according to The New York Times.
The report reveals how the climate crisis is linked to insurance losses, claims, and higher rates.
This would not have happened without the quick action of almost 5,400 Green Americans, who had just one day after the holiday break to sign our petition. Thank you to each one of you who took action with us!
Learn more about the report and its key findings here. Then switch from your fossil-fuel-supporting insurance company to a climate-safe one with our Climate Smart Insurance Directory.
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