AIA, one of the world’s largest life insurers and shirt sponsor of Tottenham Hotspur, is undermining its pledge to support climate action and help customers lead healthy lives by investing billions of dollars in coal companies, reveals the report.
More than 65 insurers worldwide have divested from coal, but AIA has placed no restrictions on its US$200 billion portfolio. Its coal investments include: $125 million of shares in Tenaga Nasional Berhad, which operates more than 26,000 MW of power plants in Malaysia and other countries, more than half of it coal capacity; and a $21 million loan for the Toledo coal power plant in Cebu, Phillippines, reveals the report AIA Kick Out Coal!
AIA claims to support the Paris Agreement, yet coal is the biggest single source of CO2 emissions, and a warming world is already increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Record floods, typhoons and wildfires have affected people, ecosystems and economies in many parts of the Asia-Pacific only this year.
"Coal is AIA’s dirty little secret. AIA talks a good game on climate change but its investments undermine the Paris climate targets and threaten the health and livelihoods of its customers. Until it kicks out all coal, AIA’s logo will be a stain on the shirts of Tottenham Hotspur, a climate champion in the global football community.”
"AIA’s continued investment in the mining and burning of coal contradicts its brand promise and sets it apart from the ESG leaders in the global insurance industry. There is no greater irony than a life insurer profiting from destroying our planet. AIA has divested from the dirty sectors of tobacco and ammunition, now the coal sector must follow.”
