Lawyers have spelled out the legal risks for UK pension funds and their advisors that fail to act on climate change. Two reports published by Client Earth, one each for actuaries and consultants, make clear their obligations and the ways they need to consider and manage climate risk in line with regulator guidance. Safeguarding the […]
The launch of our new scorecard on insurance and coal caused quite a splash last week! It got executives talking at industry events, at citizen protests outside two major insurer offices in London, and was covered extensively in financial media across Europe, the US, and around the world. Here are some of the most prominent […]
Our new scorecard, Insuring Coal No More, for the first time holds leading insurance companies to account for their policies on coal and climate change. It finds that major insurers have divested an estimated $20 billion from the coal sector and are in some cases ceasing to underwrite coal projects. All actors need to move […]
Our new scorecard was released today, finding that most insurers are still failing to take action on coal to prevent dangerous climate change. Leading insurance companies have pulled $20 billion out of investments in coal and a growing number are refusing to underwrite new coal projects, reveals a new scorecard on the industry from the […]
At the UN Climate Summit today in Bonn, urgewald and our partners published the ‘Global Coal Exit List’ (GCEL), a comprehensive database of companies participating in the thermal coal value chain. While most coal databases used by the finance industry only cover around 100 companies, the GCEL provides key statistics on over 770 companies whose activities range […]
With the start of the UN’s next climate summit in Bonn next week, thousands of climate justice activists, organized by Ende Gelande, forced their way onto Europe’s biggest coal mine, briefly shutting down operations. When operators from RWE Power AG shut down the excavators for safety reasons, the activists cheered. Police announcements via loudspeaker regularly reminded activists […]
Perhaps a conference of insurance actuaries isn’t the first place you’d look for bombshell headlines, but that’s exactly what a reporter for the Australian Financial Review found this week. Attending the Actuaries’ Institute’s climate change working group, the AFR spoke with Sharanjit Paddam, a principal at Deloitte and convenor of the working group. Paddam warned […]
Insurance companies are getting hammered by this year’s super storms. Many of them are withdrawing from coastal areas in response to climate change – but continue to underwrite fossil fuels. Here are 10 things you should know about insurers and climate change. 1. Insurance companies, which insure properties against weather hazards, were among the first major […]
To protect the climate, we need to stop coal. But how? Climate campaigners have a new tactic: go after their insurance. Our new explainer video shares why the insurance sector is such a critical player in the fight to keep coal in the ground, and how we’re pressuring companies to Insure Our Future – in […]
A series of super storms from the Atlantic to South Asia have taken thousands of lives, are creating untold human suffering and unleashing unprecedented economic damage. As harbingers of a grim new climate reality, they are also putting the need for urgent strengthened climate action forcefully on the agenda. Governments, businesses and consumers need to […]
This year’s unprecedented super storms call attention to the climate responsibility of the insurance industry, which currently meets for its annual conference in Monte Carlo. As the world’s first reinsurer withdraws from underwriting certain coal projects, campaign groups call on the insurance industry to completely exit the coal sector. On September 6 French insurer SCOR, […]
Over 6,000 European climate change activists took bold climate action in the heartland of Germany’s coal industry this month, with the aim of disrupting the coal industry via direct action. As they have in years past, the Ende Gelaende movement (which means “Stop, no further”) organized the sprawling 6-acre peaceful action camp that is the […]
Leading insurers have started to put their climate rhetoric into action and to exit the coal sector. Even so Insure Our Future, a coalition of climate activists, has found that five prominent European insurers – Allianz, Generali, Munich Re, Swiss Re and Zurich – continue to hold at least $361 million of assets in companies […]
The insurance industry talks a big game on climate but it continues to invest in coal and other fossil fuel projects, so we joined forces with Divest London and UK Tar Sands Network to take a message to their big global conference in London last month. The ‘Global Resilience and the Role of Insurance’ […]
Climate activists call on Insurers to stop underwriting coal projects in the next six months to avoid catastrophic climate change. London, Tuesday July 18th 2017, climate activists intervened at the annual International Insurance Society conference [1] this morning, to call on the global insurance industry to demonstrate commitment to insuring the world against climate chaos […]
Today reinsurance giant Swiss Re announced they have shifted their entire $130B investment portfolio towards ethical investments, and clarified that they continue to exclude coal from their portfolio. We welcome this progress but there is still more to do: stop underwriting coal!
The planet can afford no new coal if we are to keep global temperatures below 2 degrees C, yet banks and insurers are set to finance an incredible 1,600 new coal power plants worldwide, tipping the planet into climate chaos. Our partners Urgevald have complied a database of the 120 companies driving these new power plants into a new resource, CoalExit.org. It's a handy divestment checklist for pulling your money out of climate destruction.
When we learned the CEOs of the world’s leading insurance companies would hold their annual get-together in San Francisco, we knew we had to get Unfriending Coal onto their agenda. From interrupting their meeting to protests out front, elevator ads to giant airplane banners, our message was definitely heard.
Among the many journalists covering our action against the world's biggest insurance company CEO's last week was this excellent Huffington Post article. Here are some of the highlights.
On Thursday and Friday, climate activists brought their message that insurance companies need to stop supporting coal projects to a global meeting of insurance CEOs in San Francisco.