On February 26, over 50 climate activists from Connecticut and Louisiana gathered outside The Hartford headquarters to demand immediate action to end their continued involvement in insuring fossil fuel projects and underwriting liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, as well as condemning their recent decision to withdraw from the California housing market.  CCAG, Third Act Connecticut, Sierra Club Connecticut, NAG, BLM860, and Windham Willimantic NAACP were among the Connecticut groups participating in the demonstration.

 

We were incredibly lucky to be joined by Roishetta Sibley Ozane, founder of The Vessel Project of Louisiana, and James Hiatt, founder of For a Better Bayou, who requested a meeting with The Hartford Executives and traveled from Lake Charles Louisiana to speak with them. When they asked to speak with a representative to deliver a letter and a newly released report, they were turned away by security.

 

The report from Rainforest Action Network and Public Citizen reveal that three Connecticut insurance companies – The Hartford, Travelers, and W.R. Berkley – are among at least 35 different insurance companies insuring the methane gas (LNG) boom on the US Gulf Coast. If  built, the LNG expansion on the Gulf will export the same yearly greenhouse gas emissions as 239 coal plants. The impacts to communities in the Gulf and our climate is devastating. Ozane and Hiatt spoke passionately to the participants at the demonstration about the impact on themselves, their families, and their communities.

 

“The reason why people should continue to put pressure on The Hartford is because these big insurance companies refuse to listen and understand what is happening in our communities.'' said Ozane. “They are not meeting with us, they are not sitting down and meeting with community members who are impacted before they are making decisions. There are whole communities being impacted by decisions that are being made in buildings like this one.” 

 

“The thing that they are ensuring is that the world will continue to be on fire, if we keep on with these fossil fuels,” said Hiatt. “The idea that we can continue on this pathway, that liquified natural gas can be a part of the solution, or the continued fracking that puts so much suffering on the communities who live around these sites, it’s not. And we’ve had enough.” 

 

The demonstration outside The Hartford's headquarters was part of the Insure Our Future Global Week of Action. During this week, 67 actions across five continents were planned to protest at insurance companies for propping up dangerous fossil fuel projects and demand they protect communities, not polluters. 

 

Since 2020, Sierra Club Connecticut has been pressuring insurance companies in our state to protect us from the climate crisis. 

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Our demands to the insurance giants is to:

1. Stop insuring fossil fuels: cease insuring new and expanded coal, oil, and gas projects and the companies developing them.

2. Respect human rights: adopt robust policies to ensure that clients fully respect all human rights, including Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) of impacted communities.

3. Support a just transition: play an active role in the just transition by increasing support to renewable projects by and for communities most impacted by climate change and facing energy access crisis.

 

Interested in learning more or joining us for our next action, please reach out!

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Samantha Dynowski is State Director of Sierra Club Connecticut.