News

April 15, 2021

Ten largest Lloyd’s insurers rule out underwriting Adani’s coal as Tokio Marine Kiln commits to not participate in ‘any future underwriting’

Confronted with the heat of targeted advocacy by climate justice campaigners as well as Indigenous Peoples’ rights movements, Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK, identified with Lloyd’s Syndicates 510, 557 and 1880) has publicly committed to not participate in ‘any future underwriting’ of Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal mine in Australia. Earlier this month, when Lloyd’s syndicate MS […]

April 14, 2021

Campaigners call on Lloyd’s of London to immediately stop insuring the world’s worst fossil fuels projects

The Insure our Future network increases pressure on Lloyd’s with the launch of a website calling on the insurer to strengthen its ESG policy and stop insuring coal and new oil and gas projects that exacerbate climate change. Lloydsinsureourfuture.com provides a gateway to action for the growing global network of organisations and individuals, including Lloyd’s […]

April 7, 2021

Climate activists from Campax overshadow Zurich Group’s annual general meeting

On April 7, campaign organisation Campax denounces the climate policy of Zurich Insurance with a 10×13 meter banner hung outside the insurance giant’s headquarters that reads “Zurich stop insuring oil and gas projects” just hours before its annual general meeting. The climate activists are demanding Zurich’s withdrawal from the oil and gas business. Zurich Group […]

April 7, 2021

Generali supports Europe’s most polluting companies despite its proclaimed coal policy

A few weeks before Generali’s shareholder meeting, scheduled for April 29, Re:Common and Greenpeace Italia release an Italian publication and English brief which shows that Generali is one of the key players in supporting the European coal sector, particularly in countries that still strongly depend on the most polluting of fossil fuels: Poland, the Czech […]

March 31, 2021

Global Actions Put Tokio Marine on Notice

The week of March 22nd, climate justice and community rights advocates kick-started the launch of a global campaign demanding Tokio Marine stop insuring coal, oil and gas projects. Energised actions took place outside company offices in Tokyo, Seoul, Jakarta, Delhi, Melbourne, Sydney and New York, in which groups gathered to put the global insurance company […]

March 29, 2021

Poland’s biggest insurer fails to act on fossil fuels

Written by Kuba Gogolewski, Senior Finance Campaigner, Fundacja „Rozwój TAK - Odkrywki NIE” PZU, the biggest financial group in Central and Eastern Europe with presence in Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic states, released a weak new strategy for 2021 to 2024. With consolidated assets of close to 85 billion euros at the end of 2020, […]

March 25, 2021

30+ Groups Call on Tokio Marine to Drop Fossil Fuels

As the Olympics Torch Relay kicks off in Japan, actions  in Tokyo, Seoul, Delhi, Jakarta, New York, San Francisco, Sydney and Melbourne demand Tokio Marine take climate action Read Investor Brief Starting March 25, actions around the world mark the global launch of a campaign calling on insurance giant Tokio Marine to stop underwriting and […]

March 23, 2021

Campaign groups demand Lloyd’s stop insuring offshore oil drilling in The Bahamas

Over 30 leading groups and individuals campaigning for action on climate change have written to insurance giant Lloyd’s of London demanding that it end support for the Bahamas Petroleum Company to conduct an offshore oil drilling scheme in the pristine waters of The Bahamas. The open letter, which was coordinated by global campaign group SumOfUs […]

March 17, 2021

AIA insurance fully divests from coal

The Insure Our Future network welcomes AIA’s divestment from coal, and calls on other Asian life insurers to follow AIA’s lead. In its new 2020 ESG report, AIA commits to do the following: AIA will divest and/or run off their entire directly managed equity and fixed income exposure to coal mining and coal-fired power businesses […]

March 16, 2021

Swiss Re first insurer to completely phase out coal from treaty reinsurance

Swiss Re, the world’s largest reinsurer, announced new climate targets, including plans for the reinsurer to completely phase-out thermal coal from its treaty business by 2030 (OECD) and 2040 (rest of the world). If implemented properly, this policy shift marks a breakthrough for the reinsurance industry. Lindsay Keenan, European Coordinator, Insure Our Future said: “We […]

March 12, 2021

MAPFRE adopts new fossil fuel policy

MAPFRE commits to stop insuring new tar sands, Arctic drilling & coal infrastructure, but remains silent on insurance of other oil and gas expansion 12 March, 2021 – Today at its Annual General Meeting, MAPFRE, Spain’s largest non-life insurer and one of Europe’s biggest insurers, formally adopted new commitments to exclude tar sands and Arctic […]

March 11, 2021

Leading European insurers back LNG infrastructure

Urgewald released a report highlighting the European insurance industry’s role in supporting gas infrastructure. The paper, released as part of the Insure Our Future campaign, names Allianz, Talanx, AXA, Generali and Munich Re as key insurers to big fossil gas projects in recent years, such as the Świnoujście, Zeebrugge and Dunkirk liquefied natural gas (LNG) […]

February 23, 2021

Lloyd’s insurer Brit commits to never insure Adani

Major Lloyd’s of London insurance syndicate Brit has committed to never directly insure the Carmichael Coal Project and to not renew insurance involving any associated aspects of the project, most likely referring to the rail line. In an email to Insure Our Future, Brit stated:  Brit does not, has never, and will not write any […]

February 5, 2021

Adani’s coal project exposes yet another risk to insurers: flooding

Adani and its rail line contractors, BMD and Martinus, have failed to prepare for the wet season. Pictures have emerged of substantial flooding on a section of the under-construction rail line to service the proposed Adani Carmichael coal mine in Australia. Lawyers from Environmental Justice Australia (EJA), acting for Mackay Conservation Group (MCG), have written […]

February 2, 2021

Coal exit policies add billions of dollars to insurers’ shareholder value, analyst report suggests

The following commentary by Peter Bosshard first appeared in Environmental Finance. Climate campaigners have pushed insurance companies to exit the coal sector for many years. They have now received support from an unexpected source: financial analysts. “We think the insurance sector’s most important contribution to ESG is exiting coal underwriting”, a recent report issued by […]

January 25, 2021

Can the Premier League’s greenest club find a sponsor which shares its green credentials?

By Peter Bosshard, coordinator of the Insure Our Future campaign On January 25, 2021, BBC Sport and the Sport Positive Summit named Tottenham Hotspur the Premier League’s greenest club. Congratulations! Can Spurs, which also just signed up to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, drop AIA and find a shirt sponsor which shares their […]

January 21, 2021

Who is insuring exploratory oil drilling in the Bahamas, and why?

Update (22-01-2021): “Having previously said they had no record of insuring BPC’s ill-conceived offshore oil drilling project, Lloyd’s has now admitted they are providing insurance. We can understand why Lloyd’s would have been embarrassed to admit they’re insuring this project. New oil and gas projects are completely incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5C. Lloyd’s […]

December 16, 2020

Lloyd’s coal policy is small step, but must immediately drop insurance for all coal projects

On December 17, Lloyd’s of London releases its Environmental, Social and Governance Report which, amongst other commitments, asks Lloyd’s managing agents to no longer provide new insurance cover for coal-fired power plants, thermal coal mines, oil sands and new arctic energy exploration. Insure Our Future welcomes this as a step in the right direction, but […]

December 12, 2020

Climate Campaigners Welcome Net-Zero Underwriting Alliance With Caveats

December 12, 2020 – On the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, Thomas Buberl, the CEO of the AXA Group, proposed the creation of a Net-Zero Underwriting Alliance (NZUA). The Insure Our Future campaign welcomed the proposal as a sign that insurers are increasingly accepting responsibility for the emissions of the projects they are underwriting. […]

December 2, 2020

Coal is increasingly uninsurable in 2020, but industry fails to act on oil and gas

Chinese Press Release Laggards in U.S., Asia and Lloyd’s Market slow global progress Insurers’ continued retreat from coal is making it harder and more expensive to secure insurance for coal projects, the Insure Our Future campaign revealed in its fourth annual scorecard on insurers’ climate policies. Although momentum is growing, it falls short of what […]