# 18. Storm Damage: How Insurance Companies Fuel the Climate Crisis

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/in-our-backyard-podcast-1010189/18-storm-damage-how-insurance-companies-fuel-the-climate-crisis
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/in-our-backyard-podcast-1010189/18-storm-damage-how-insurance-companies-fuel-the-climate-crisis.md
Podcast: [In Our Backyard Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/in-our-backyard-podcast-1010189)
Published: 2025-09-26T14:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bredl/episodes/18--Storm-Damage-How-Insurance-Companies-Fuel-the-Climate-Crisis-e38jfnc
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/130aa114/podcast/play/108690604/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-8-23%2F407984167-44100-2-b3eebc5cf2caa.m4a
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/in-our-backyard-podcast-1010189/episodes/18-storm-damage-how-insurance-companies-fuel-the-climate-crisis
Duration seconds: 1637

## Resource

Today, we’re diving into a crisis that’s hitting close to home for many North Carolinians, one that sits at the intersection of climate change, corporate accountability, and financial survival: the insurance crisis unfolding in the wake of Hurricane Helene. I talk with Charles Slidders , Senior Attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law , or CIEL. Charles is a legal expert working on the front lines of climate justice and he’s co-author of a powerful new analysis that reveals a troubling pattern: insurance companies are helping finance the very fossil fuel projects that are driving extreme weather… and then turning around to hike rates or drop coverage when those disasters strike. When Hurricane Helene tore through the Carolinas, it didn’t just knock down trees or flood neighborhoods, it tore the lid off something deeper. It showed just how shaky our financial systems really are, especially when it comes to insurance. As the state works to recover, one thing’s clear: it’s not a matter of if another storm will hit, it’s whether we’ll be prepared when it does. Contact and connect with Charles: https://www.ciel.org/

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/in-our-backyard-podcast-1010189/episodes/18-storm-damage-how-insurance-companies-fuel-the-climate-crisis/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/in-our-backyard-podcast-1010189/18-storm-damage-how-insurance-companies-fuel-the-climate-crisis.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.