CALIFORNIA INSURANCE COMMISSIONER TELLS INSURERS TO DROP COAL INVESTMENTS
According to a recent study by Steven Greenhut, the Western region director for the R Street Institute, available data do not support Jones’s concerns. Coal represents less than 1 percent of the California insurance industry’s investments, Greenhut’s July policy study shows, so even for the insurer that is most heavily invested in fossil fuels—life insurer TIAA-CREF—its coal investments constitute a meager 1.76 percent of its assets.
“It’s hard to make the case the divestment request is based in solvency concerns, not political ones, when coal-related investments pose such a small risk to insurers’ fiscal health,” Greenhut said.
