US insurers should follow their European peers and stop underwriting and investing in coal and other fossil fuel projects, the country’s leading consumer advocate says.

“Insurance companies cannot claim they are the victims of climate change if they are also insuring the perpetrators,” Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court said.

European insurance giants such as Swiss Re and Allianz have stopped covering coal-linked businesses in support of the Paris Agreement to curb carbon pollution.

Pressure on US insurers is growing after the launch last month of the Insure Our Future campaign to make the industry stop insuring and investing in coal and tar sands projects and companies.

Consumer Watchdog, Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network and Friends of the Earth are among the campaign’s endorsers.

“Not one major US insurance company has divested from fossil fuels and none have pledged to stop insuring risky fossil fuel projects,” Insure Our Future says.

Insurers operating in California have about $US528 billion ($743 billion) in fossil fuel-related investments, according to a report by the University of California’s Berkeley School of Law Centre for Law, Energy & the Environment.