Boston, May 23, 2025 – 14.8% of votes cast on Wednesday supported a Green Century shareholder proposal asking the insurer Markel Group to disclose the climate emissions from its underwriting, investing and insuring activities. The Virginia-based company has grown from covering small buses to insuring a range of properties from boats to oil refineries over its 95 years of operation.
“Insurers’ pursuit of short-term profits from fossil fuels guarantees long-term environmental and financial costs,” said Leslie Samuelrich, president of Green Century. “It makes no sense for any business to willingly and knowingly contribute to something — in this case, climate change — that causes such large payouts. Investors deserve to know how Markel’s emissions drive the climate risks its business is losing money from.”
As natural disasters increase in frequency and severity due to climate change, so do the difficulties insurers face in pricing risk and recovering losses from climate disasters. Global insured losses from natural catastrophes in 2023 exceeded $100 billion for the fourth consecutive year and the Swiss Re Group projects they could double within the next ten years.
The impacts of increasing emissions extend to homeowners as well. Insurers are increasingly abandoning areas vulnerable to climate change-fueled severe weather by refusing to renew policies at the end of their term. A congressional investigation revealed that climate change has spurred spiking non-renewal rates by insurers and higher premiums for customers. In more than 200 counties across the United States, the rate of non-renewal has tripled or more since 2018.
Markel is quiet on climate impact
Despite a professed commitment to environmental stewardship, Markel does not report any of its climate emissions or publish an annual sustainability report. This places the company far behind competitors including Travelers and AIG, both of which disclose their operational emissions and are expanding efforts to measure the emissions associated with their investments. Markel is also out of step with the vast majority of other companies in the Russell 1000 index – which represents the biggest companies in the U.S. – 93% of which published a sustainability report in 2023.
“Ultimately, investors and consumers will foot the bill for Markel’s lack of transparency and failure to mitigate climate risk,” said Green Century Shareholder Advocate Giovanna Eichner. “Understanding the scope of Markel’s unwriting, investing and insuring of fossil fuels is the first step in responding to these risks to both pocketbooks and the planet.”
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