FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Mar. 19, 2026
CONTACT: Jarice Thompson, jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org
Connecticut Climate Change Surcharge Could Force Insurers to Pay Their Fair Share
Washington DC – In response to the insurance industry’s continued practice of underwriting fossil fuels while making record profits and pushing up prices for homeowners, the Connecticut General Assembly passed out of committee S.B. 453, An Act Concerning A Climate Change Related Surcharge on Certain Insurance Policies, which would force insurance companies to pay for climate resilience.
This bill would levy a modest surcharge of five percent on fossil fuel-related insurance policies and redirect those funds towards much needed climate resilience efforts that will result in more savings for the public by lowering their insurance and disaster costs.
“Insurance companies have long known that climate change would raise costs on their customers, but nonetheless the industry continues to provide financial support to the fossil fuel industry while increasingly retreating from homeowners and communities,” said Alex Martin, climate finance policy director at Americans for Financial Reform. “This bill is a step in the right direction toward making the insurance and fossil fuel industries pay to help homeowners adapt to worsening climate change.”
According to a report on Connecticut climate costs, Connecticut required more than $564 million in federal assistance between 2011 and 2024. This was the result of 11 declared disasters. This number could rise in years to come as the effects of climate change occur more frequently.
“Major insurance companies have repeatedly cited the climate crisis as the reason they want to raise rates on homeowners. Yet, as these companies hike premiums, they continue to invest in, and reap profits from, the fossil fuel industry,” said Rick Morris, Senior Insurance Campaigner with Public Citizen’s Climate Program. “This bill will protect consumers across Connecticut and will begin to put a stop to insurer-funded climate change.”
With climate costs on the rise, investing in adaptation can deliver outsized benefits by lowering the costs of disaster damages, clean up costs, and loss of economic activity, ultimately lowering insurance costs. This proposal would also require the industries driving climate change to pay into climate resilience efforts and incentivize the insurance industry to lower its own greenhouse gas emissions.
“SB 453 is fundamentally about fairness,” said Samantha Dynowski, State Director of Sierra Club’s Connecticut Chapter. “Right now, Connecticut residents, communities, and municipalities bear the full financial burden of climate-related disasters like flooding and heat waves and sea level rise while the companies driving these risks are largely shielded from the costs.”
###