Boston, May 26, 2026 – 23% of voting shareholders cast their votes last Wednesday in favor of a Green Century Capital Management (Green Century) shareholder resolution urging Markel Group, a top U.S. property and casualty insurer, to report on the climate risks threatening its business. Unlike most of its competitors, Markel has yet to publish an annual sustainability report. As of 2025, 97% of U.S. insurance companies already have detailed publicly how they incorporate climate considerations into their planning and business models.
“It’s ironic that a major insurance company such as Markel isn’t acknowledging our warming planet. Its shareholders want insurance– and assurance– that Markel is aware of business obstacles ahead,” said Leslie Samuelrich, president of Green Century. “Shareholders deserve clarity on whether the company’s near-term insurance strategies assure its long-term climate resilience.”
Markel has long failed to answer investors’ call for specifics about how the company adds to climate change and its mitigation plans. A previous 2024 resolution from Green Century requesting Markel to disclose its full carbon footprint earned 37.9% of shareholder votes cast. Nevertheless, the insurer has yet to report the emissions associated with investing, underwriting and insuring fossil fuel projects that pollute the air, or a sustainability report outlining its response to climate-related risks.
The risky business of climate change
The increasing rate and severity of natural disasters bodes major trouble for the insurance industry. Wildfires, storms, and floods resulted in $107 billion in global insured losses in 2025, with more than 80% of those losses occurring in the United States. In 2024, Swiss Re Institute estimated insured losses doubling within the next ten years.
Companies are trying to account for bigger claims by reducing customers’ coverage and raising their rates instead of working on a more permanent solution: cutting the planet-warming air pollution making matters worse. Data covering 77% of U.S. insurers showed fossil fuel-related holdings worth $536 billion in 2019, and the share of fossil fuel companies in the investment portfolio of the insurance industry rose between 2014 and 2023.
Calls for increased accountability
Regulators and the media are adding fuel to the fire by criticizing insurers’ responses to intensifying climate catastrophes. The California Department of Insurance recently sued State Farm for denying and delaying claims after the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. California officials are seeking the highest fines following a wildfire this century — as well as the suspension of State Farm’s license to operate in the state. Media coverage is also calling attention to insurers’ impact on the planet and customers’ pocketbooks.
Stakeholders are pushing insurers for plans and policies to maintain profitability and build consumer confidence in the face of disasters. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ annual survey asks companies to describe how they incorporate climate risk into business planning, and the New York State Legislature proposed a bill in 2024 that aimed to prohibit insurers from financing the fossil fuel projects heightening climate risk. Meanwhile, consumer groups are also highlighting insurers’ culpability for fueling rising rates while simultaneously increasing premiums up to 10% on average between 2018 and 2022 in zip codes facing high or moderately high climate risks.
“Many insurance companies, regulators, and customers are sounding the alarm on climate risk, but Markel seems to be hitting snooze,” said Green Century Shareholder Advocate Giovanna Eichner. “Continuing to stay silent on climate change is as risky to Markel’s reputation as natural disasters are to its bottom line.”
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