Fact sheet: How Chubb, The Hartford, and Travelers put consumers at financial risk

U.S. PIRG released a fact sheet outlining how Chubb, The Hartford and Travelers — which all are among the top 20 largest for homeowners insurance and the top 5 for commercial property and casualty insurance — are putting the financial well-being of homeowners, retirees, investors and small businesses at risk. 

Risks explained further in U.S. PIRG’s fact sheet include: 

• Climate change-related weather events could result in property owners’ deaths, injuries, property loss, property damage or diminished property values. 
• Insurance companies could then, as they often do, hike premiums to pass on the higher costs of claims to their customers, tightening household budgets and freezing more people out of the market entirely.
• In addition, more fossil fuel projects will likely expose companies across all industry sectors to financial risks related to climate change, which may depress the value of virtually all assets and hurt investors. 

Green Century Capital Management, PIRG’s affiliated environmentally-responsible mutual fund company, has re-filed shareholder proposals with Chubb, The Hartford and Travelers, asking all three to stop underwriting new fossil fuel projects.