Local climate activists gathered in front of the City of Boulder municipal building downtown on Thursday, Feb. 29, urging the city to to cut ties with insurance companies investing in or insuring fossil fuel projects that contribute to increased oil and gas production. Although Boulder Reporting Lab couldn’t immediately ascertain the insurers used by the city, it did find that the city maintains policies with 18 different carriers.
The event was part of a global week of climate action led by the Insure our Future campaign. The international coalition of nonprofit organizations is urging insurers to stop underwriting projects that contribute to the world’s reliance on fossil fuels, including pipelines, natural gas-fired plants and LNG terminals. The effort comes as insurers are withdrawing from places where payouts from extreme weather events driven by climate change have skyrocketed, including in Colorado.
At the event, activists delivered a letter to city staff signed by several local climate action groups, including 350 Boulder County, Clean Energy Action and Empower our Future.
“We urge the City to follow the County’s lead and create a policy to select insurers for the City based upon criteria that the company is not insuring or investing in fossil fuel companies or projects,” the letter said. “Stand up for our people and the planet.” About a dozen people showed up.
In 2020, Boulder County passed a proclamation to only work with insurers that are neither insuring or investing in fossil fuel companies or projects.
Micah Parkin, executive director of 350 Colorado, spoke first, highlighting her experience of moving from New Orleans to Boulder after Hurricane Katrina, only to face the threat of wildfires in her new home.
“We’re seeing more intense wildfires, hurricanes and other weather events as a result of climate change,” Parkin said, urging the city to reconsider its insurer choices so “taxpayer dollars are not financing climate disaster.”
Paul Culnan from Empower our Future said that “public money should be spent in a way that reflects the community’s values,” and the values of the Boulder community are that of environmentalism.
Speakers repeatedly mentioned the insurers Chubb and AIG for their investment in the fossil fuel industry, saying that “wealthy CEOs are gambling away our futures” and “no fossil fuel project would be able to develop or continue operating without insurance.”
One city staff member, Emily Sandoval, an engagement project manager, was at the event. After the organizers presented Sandoval the letter, several activists walked over to the county courthouse on Pearl Street to present a letter to Board of County Commissioners thanking them for their 2020 proclamation.
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