Alaska hits back at insurers accused of using ‘woke’ underwriting to reshape energy policy as ANWR reopens

EXCLUSIVE: The state of Alaska sent warning letters Monday to four major insurance firms, saying their climate-related policies may violate state insurance and consumer-protection laws by creating an uneven playing field for energy projects.

The news comes as Alaska’s congressional delegation led a successful effort to disapprove – or overturn – Biden-era restrictions placed on energy exploration in Section 1002 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) on Thursday, effectively lifting those restrictions. 

Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox and Commerce Commissioner Julie Sande warned AIG, Zurich, Chubb and The Hartford that some of their policies may conflict with state rules designed to protect Alaska’s status as a leading investment destination, particularly for energy production.

“Alaska’s insurance code is built on a central premise: underwriting decisions must rest on risk, and that means no discrimination based on extra-legal political, environmental, or long-range policy commitments,” the beginning of each of the four letters read.

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“And where the insurance code doesn’t reach, our consumer-protection statute prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices, which could include misrepresentations of compliance with Alaska law in contractual dealings.”

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy told Fox News Digital his administration is taking a close look at “friction points” that may make it harder to build things in the Last Frontier.

“With respect to how our projects get insured, we’re concerned that some of the underwriting standards being applied today—particularly broad Arctic exclusions and long-range climate-driven policy restrictions—may be shutting out responsible Alaska projects for reasons that have nothing to do with actual risk,” he said.

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Dunleavy said the letters are foremost meant to start a dialogue with the four insurers so that he and officials in Juneau can better understand their policies and underwriting criteria – and clear up any “misconceptions about our state.”

In the state’s letter to AIG CEO Peter Zaffino, Alaskan officials wrote of “substantial concerns” about the insurer’s treatment of the state’s oil and gas sector, amid documentation it published committing to “phasing out” underwriting of existing operation insurance risks and halting new investments for clients deriving 30% or more revenue from coal or oil-sands by 2030.

The company also cited a 2050 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions standard for its policies in a separate document footnoted in the letter.

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“AIG’s net-zero underwriting goal necessarily will result in emissions requirements that do not appear to be tied to short-term actuarial risk within the policy period,” Juneau’s letter read.

“AIG’s goal appears to be an effort to reshape a lawful sector according to AIG’s long-term environmental commitments.”

In a sentiment expressed to The Hartford, Juneau officials wrote that, “when an insurer adopts blanket exclusions based on geography or on long-range public policy objectives untethered to risk, those exclusions function as de-facto prohibitions on investment.”

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In its letter to Zurich’s North America executive Kristof Terryn, Alaska also cited a reported “net-zero” goal of 2050, writing that “whatever the merits of those commitments, Alaska law requires insurers to treat insureds with like risk characteristics alike and to base underwriting decisions on risk—not on corporate climate-policy preferences or extra-legal standards developed to “[l]imit… average temperature increases” in line with the Paris Agreement,” citing a company document.

It warned that Zurich in the future may run afoul of the Alaska Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act, but stressed “we do not reach that conclusion here, but it is part of our broader review.”

Alaska took issue with Chubb’s March 2025 announcement that it would no longer underwrite oil and gas projects in International Union for the Conservation of Nature management categories one through four – which it noted included ANWR.

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Cox and Sande wrote that the underwriting prohibition on ANWR is one that “uniquely affects Alaska” and that “Alaska has invested years of planning and permitting work to open responsible opportunity in the ANWR… no other state faces this kind of prohibition.”

Consumers’ Research executive director Will Hild told Fox News Digital that the situation reveals “woke capitalism masquerading as risk management.”

“[I]t threatens jobs, consumers, and President Trump’s energy agenda. Consumers’ Research applauds the Alaska delegation for standing up to these woke insurers and defending Alaskan consumers from political ideology.”

As a response to potential criticisms from a macro level, Juneau officials said Alaska is home to modern transmission systems, well-trained operators and “robust” environmental protection rules.

In prior statements, Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg assured observers that his company will continue supporting energy development through its underwriting.

“We’re continuing to insure oil and gas because the world needs energy,” Greenberg said. “We don’t yet have great alternatives to gas and oil. And it would be irresponsible of us not to continue to insure those in a responsible way.” 

ChubbFacts, a noted fact-check site supporting the insurance giant’s arguments in cases such as this, pushed back on claims of “wokeness” and other critiques, saying that it insured some of President Donald Trump’s legal cases, as well as oil companies, manufacturers, construction firms, and American farmers as a leading agricultural insurer—regardless of politics.”

“We’ve taken heat from climate activists for continuing to insure energy companies, but our focus never shifts,” the company wrote on ChubbFacts.com.

Fox News Digital reached out to media contact addresses for The Hartford, AIG, Zurich and Chubb for additional comment.