"Risk Exposure: The Insurers Secretly Backing The Methane Gas Boom in the US Gulf South ," 22 February 2024

... A glaring example of the insurance industry’s hypocrisy is its role in supporting dangerous Liquefied “Natural” Gas (LNG) terminals across the US Gulf South. (This report will use “methane” in place of LNG, as LNG is composed mostly of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.) New research reveals the insurers are propping up methane export terminals along the US Gulf Coast even as this wave of fossil fuel expansion perpetuates human rights harms and threatens to blow past the Paris Agreement’s climate targets. At least 35 insurance companies including AIG, AXA, Allianz, Chubb, Liberty Mutual, Lloyd’s of London, SCOR and Sompo are among some of the insurers of these terminals...

The majority of new methane export terminals and pipelines are concentrated in the US Gulf Coast, particularly in Louisiana and Texas. Many of these operational and proposed terminals are situated in Indigenous, Black, Brown, and economically disadvantaged communities, perpetuating a longstanding legacy of environmental racism in the Gulf Coast.

For generations, communities in Corpus Christi, Port Arthur, and Lake Charles have endured the unequal burden and toxic impacts on their air, water, and land stemming from the build out of petro-chemical and fossil fuel infrastructure in the region. Beyond environmental damage, fossil fuels pose constant and cumulative health and safety hazards...

In addition to toxic air and water pollution, communities along the Gulf Coast face escalating climate-driven natural disasters, like hurricanes, flooding, and extreme weather. Many proposed methane export terminals in the area will be severely impacted by extreme flooding and storm surges that are already happening and that climate experts predict will intensify. Yet some insurance companies continue to underwrite these terminals while no longer offering wildfire and hurricane coverage for homeowners and businesses in the same region, citing the risk of climate change as too great...

Insurance companies must adopt policies to cease underwriting methane export terminals and align their portfolios with credible pathways to limit warming to below 1.5°C. Insurers must implement robust due diligence mechanisms to ensure that their clients fully respect and observe all human rights, including a requirement that they obtain and document the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of impacted Indigenous Peoples...