News & Analysis
February 25, 2025
In the wake of the deadly Los Angeles fires, a recent poll from CCI and Data for Progress finds that California voters support a policy that would empower victims and insurers to recover their losses directly from oil and gas companies.
Last month, California Senator Scott Wiener introduced the Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act, which seeks to protect California’s insurance market from financial collapse. The bill aims to stop costly rate hikes for Californians who have no other options by creating a pathway to make Big Oil companies — rather than victims or insurers — pay for the rising costs of disasters.
Across the country, climate disasters are fueling an insurance crisis, with rising premium costs being passed onto policyholders. Meanwhile, the areas most affected by extreme weather are seeing insurers stop writing policies altogether.
In the months before the Los Angeles fires, for example, thousands of homeowners were dropped by private insurers because of the increased climate risks to the region, leaving residents to either forgo insurance or turn to California’s insurer of last resort, known as the FAIR Plan. The massive costs from those fires are now forcing the FAIR Plan to impose a $1 billion charge on private insurance companies — and, thus, their policyholders — in order to avoid insolvency from paying claims.
In short, California’s insurer of last resort is buckling under the devastating weight of the climate crisis — a crisis that Big Oil knowingly fueled for decades.
Our survey found that California voters broadly agree that fossil fuel companies are responsible for the recent fires — and they support the proposal being put forward to make Big Oil pay. Senator Wiener’s bill, which is sponsored by CCI, acknowledges that fossil fuel companies knew for decades that their products fuel the very climate conditions that exacerbate extreme weather, like the recent fires. Instead of acknowledging their role in climate change, Big Oil companies poured millions of dollars into public disinformation campaigns that claimed climate science was uncertain and delayed necessary climate action.
“Californians are paying a devastating price for the climate crisis, as escalating disasters destroy entire communities and drive insurance costs through the roof,” said Senator Wiener. “Containing these costs is critical to our recovery and to the future of our state. By forcing the fossil fuel companies driving the climate crisis to pay their fair share, we can help stabilize our insurance market and make the victims of climate disasters whole.”
Voters are connecting Big Oil’s deception to the worsening climate conditions, with the poll finding that 57 percent of California voters believe that the fossil fuel industry is very or somewhat responsible for the recent California wildfires. Respondents also supported allowing individuals and small businesses whose property is damaged by climate disasters and extreme weather events to recover their costs by suing oil and gas companies that misled the public about the harm their products would cause, as well as requiring insurance companies to sue oil and gas companies to make them pay for damages from extreme weather and climate disasters before raising rates for policyholders.
“Big Oil companies have fueled the climate crisis through decades of deception and pollution, and now the resulting climate disasters are putting Californians at risk of an uninsurable future,” said Iyla Shornstein, political director for the Center for Climate Integrity. “These findings show that California voters strongly support lawmakers’ common sense proposal for insurers and Californians to be able to recover their losses from major oil and gas companies that they agree are responsible for fueling climate disasters.”
Image Credit: CAL FIRE via flickr
