Insuring the Climate Crisis: New York Bill

The Center for International Environmental Law examines the "Insuring Our Future Act" (Assembly Bill A9905A/Senate Bill S9435) in New York. The bill targets the contradiction of insurance companies raising premiums due to climate-driven disasters while continuing to finance the fossil fuel industry. It proposes a five-year phase-out of fossil fuel investments and underwriting, alongside protections against "bluelining" and sudden non-renewals for policyholders.

• The proposed "Insuring Our Future Act" (Assembly Bill A9905A/Senate Bill S9435) would mandate that insurance companies stop underwriting new fossil fuel projects and phase out existing investments and underwriting in the fossil fuel sector within five years.
• The legislation aims to protect New York insurance customers from "bluelining," described as the practice of financial institutions increasing prices or withdrawing services from regions perceived as high environmental risk, which the authors link to historical racist patterns of redlining.
• Between 2019 and 2024, home insurance rates in the United States rose by a cumulative 37.8 percent, with the highest increase in Arizona (62.1 percent) and the lowest in Alaska (6.8 percent). Only three of fifty states did not see rate hikes of 15 percent or more during this period.
• US insurance companies are estimated to hold over $500 billion in fossil fuel-related assets, including gas, oil, and coal, and global insurers provided approximately $21 billion in underwriting for fossil fuel projects in 2022.

APA

Fenlock, L., Slidders, C., & Reisch, N. (2024). Insuring the Climate Crisis: New York Bill. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/insuring-the-climate-crisis-new-york-bill/

Chicago

Fenlock, Lindsay, Charles Slidders, and Nikki Reisch. Insuring the Climate Crisis: New York Bill. Center for International Environmental Law, 2024. https://www.ciel.org/insuring-the-climate-crisis-new-york-bill/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Fenlock |first1=Lindsay |last2=Slidders |first2=Charles |last3=Reisch |first3=Nikki |title=Insuring the Climate Crisis: New York Bill |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=26 June 2024 |url=https://www.ciel.org/insuring-the-climate-crisis-new-york-bill/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fenlock2024insuring, author = {Fenlock, Lindsay and Slidders, Charles and Reisch, Nikki}, title = {{Insuring the Climate Crisis: New York Bill}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2024}, month = jun, url = {https://www.ciel.org/insuring-the-climate-crisis-new-york-bill/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }