In this aerial view, vehicles drive through a flooded street as Hurricane Helene churns offshore on September 26, 2024, in St. Pete Beach, Florida.In this aerial view, vehicles drive through a flooded street as Hurricane Helene churns offshore on September 26, 2024, in St. Pete Beach, Florida.Hurricane Helene slammed into the Florida coast on Thursday night, bringing pounding rains and “fierce, whipping winds that sounded like jet engines revving,” according to the.
“When you think about climate change, insurance isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind,” said Humphreys. “Insurance companies are an incredibly important cog in the fossil fuel industry machine. Without insurance, fossil fuel projects cannot move forward.” Humphreys says this “cycle of property and casualty insurance companies investing in fossil fuel projects” plays a major role in driving climate change. “Climate change happens, and there are these natural disasters, and now homeowners are losing their homeowners’ insurance because it’s too risky to underwrite houses in California because oftens of thousands of home insurance nonrenewals and are scaling back new coverage in the state because of wildfires.
Organizers have been working tirelessly to stop the insurance industry from underwriting new oil, gas and coal infrastructure and pushing to phase out existing coverage.