23 State Attorney Generals Concerned About Insurer Climate Commitments

May 18, 2023 by

Nearly two dozen GOP Attorney General offices sent a letter to the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance seeking documents and information over “legal concerns brought about by commitments to collaborate with other insurers in order to advance an activist climate agenda.”

The letter dated May 16 was posted on a Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes’ website. It was signed by 23 state Attorney Generals.

The letter calls out insurers that are members of NZIA or the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA), groups that are working to implement the Paris Agreement’s climate change goals through the financial system.

“These actions have led to serious detrimental effects on the residents of our states,” the letter states. “The push to force insurance companies and their clients to rapidly reduce their emissions has led not only to increased insurance costs, but also to high gas prices and higher costs for products and services across the board, resulting in record-breaking inflation and financial hardships for the residents of our states.”

NZIA has seen some insurers leave recently. Hannover Re in April became the third major company to leave a global climate alliance focused on reducing emissions that has faced growing political pressure in the U.S.

The letter says some of the climate-related targets outlined in goals agreed to by the alliances may be in violation of state and federal laws. The information requested in the letter includes detailed descriptions of all communications between the alliances and its members related to commitments made to the alliances by June 15.

World Meteorological Organization

A new update issued by the World Meteorological Organization shows “heat-trapping greenhouse gases” and an El Niño event will likely cause global temperatures to rise to record levels in the next five years.

According to the update issued by the WMO in a release on Wednesday, there is a 98% likelihood that at least one of the next five years, as well as the five-year period as a whole, will be the warmest on record.

WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said the group is “sounding the alarm” because it is now likely (66%) the annual average near-surface global temperature between 2023 and 2027 will be more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least one year.

“A warming El Niño is expected to develop in the coming months and this will combine with human-induced climate change to push global temperatures into uncharted territory,” he stated. “This will have far-reaching repercussions for health, food security, water management and the environment. We need to be prepared.”

Montana Trial

A Montana judge allowed a climate change lawsuit from young people challenging the state’s pro-fossil fuel policies to go to trial.

The upcoming trial in Helena would be the first of its kind in the U.S., and experts in climate law say the nation is lagging behind the rest of the world in climate litigation.

Prior rulings, however limited the scope of the Montana case, so a victory for the plaintiffs does not automatically alter the state’s regulation of fossil fuels, according to an Associated Press article on Insurance Journal this week.

The 16 young plaintiffs on the lawsuit range in age from 5 to 22. They are hoping to use the trial that’s set to start on June 12 to highlight the dangers of fossil fuel emissions.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen had asked state Judge Kathy Seeley to dismiss any part of the case touching on a cancelled energy policy. Attorneys for the state also wanted more time to offer legal arguments over recent amendments to a law that allows officials to ignore greenhouse gas emissions when approving fossil-fuel projects.

The case was brought in 2020 on behalf of the environmental group Our Children’s Trust, which since 2010 has filed climate lawsuits in every state on behalf of youth plaintiffs.

India Heatwave

The extreme heatwave in South Asia in April 2023 was largely driven by climate change, which increases the likelihood of such an event in India and Bangladesh by 30 times, according to a new report from World Weather Attribution.

Bangladesh, Dhaka observed the highest maximum temperature recorded in decades (40.6°C) on April 15, while in India, several northern and eastern cities recorded maximum temperatures (above 44°C) on April 18. Thailand recorded its highest ever temperature (45.4°C) on April 15 in Tak, while the Sainyabuli province in Lao PDR reported 42.9°C April 19 as its all-time national temperature record, the May 17 report from the international group of scientists shows.

Extreme temperatures, combined with humidity, drove up heat stroke cases, caused roads to melt and created a surge in electricity demand in all four countries, the report shows.

“The combined results give an increase in the likelihood of such an event to occur of at least a factor of 30 over India and Bangladesh due to human-induced climate change,” the report states.

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