Cut emissions today to insure tomorrow, warns report as 2024 marks the first year to cross red line of 1.5°C global heating  Insure Our Future’s eighth annual scorecard report Within Our Power reveals that climate change accounts for an estimated $600 billion, or over a third, of global insured weather losses over the last two …

Insure Our Future’s eighth annual scorecard report Within Our Power reveals that climate change accounts for an estimated $600 billion, or over a third, of global insured weather losses over the last two decades — an immense climate price tag that insurers have long been passing on to policyholders. With voluntary corporate actions falling far …

The insurance crisis: an illness caused by rising climate risks The insurance industry is facing a growing crisis that threatens our society and the global economy. We have temporarily breached 1.5℃ leaving individuals increasingly vulnerable. The numbers are stark: Carbon Brief compiled every published study on the influence of climate change on extreme weather and …

In response to the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) recommendation of a “dedicated prudential treatment for insurers’ fossil fuel assets to cushion against transition risks” Minyoung Shin, Global Coordinator for Insure Our Future, said: ###

Tokyo, October 28, 2024 – In the last week of August, five environmental NGOs (Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES), Friends of the Earth Japan, Mekong Watch, Rainforest Action Network, Insure Our Future) sent a request letter to 50 financial institutions that are major shareholders of SOMPO Holdings, requesting to engage with …

Trieste, 22 October 2024 – Today, Italian insurer Generali announced it will no longer provide insurance for risks associated with oil and gas expansion, including new liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals and gas-fired power plants (1). Generali is the first insurer globally to adopt a policy covering the entire oil and gas value chain for …

London, 9 October 2024 – Lloyd’s of London, the world’s leading insurance market, is holding back climate action through its on-going support for fossil fuel expansion, according to new analysis from Reclaim Finance (1). While other major European insurers’ no longer cover new fossil fuel projects, Lloyd’s of London continues to provide cover, with no …

Zurich, 20 September 2024 – Zurich Insurance published its first transition plan yesterday. Campax and Insure Our Future welcome the move, but are disappointed with the unambitious emission reduction targets.  Zurich Insurance, ranked 4th globally in primary insurance and 6th in insuring fossil fuels, was previously a member of the Net Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA). …

Below, the letter “Request to engage with SOMPO to stop underwriting new fossil fuel projects” was submitted to SOMPO’s 50 large shareholders. August 28, 2024 Dear Shareholders of SOMPO Holdings, Request to engage with SOMPO to stop underwriting new fossil fuel projects Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES) Friends of the Earth …

Today, the shareholder advocacy organization Investors for Paris Compliance (I4PC) released a report outlining the role of Canada’s property and casualty insurance industry in encouraging fossil fuels while facing rising climate claims and passing along these costs to policyholders. The report Playing With Fire: Canadian Insurers and Fossil Fuels shows how the industry redistributes climate-related risks and …

There is a contradiction within Canada’s property and casualty (P&C) industry. By its own admission, climate change is threatening the industry’s business model with increased risk and rising claims, yet it is complicit in increasing this risk via its underwriting and investing in the fossil fuel industry.

The dangerous impacts of climate change – the flooding, droughts, extreme heat, tropical cyclones,  severe storms, erosion, water contamination and groundwater depletion  – are well known and witnessed daily in Bangladesh, my home, but one thing that’s less obvious is the role of the insurance industry in the crisis. Burning fossil fuels is the number …

Ahead of SOMPO’s AGM, a letter signed by 28 Environmental NGOs, including Rainforest Action Network and the Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society, was delivered urging the company to cease underwriting and investing in a contentious LNG export terminal planned in Brownsville, Texas, United States, as well as in all oil, gas, and …

Japanese insurance major’s support for the controversial gas project draws protests at annual general meeting. TOKYO, JAPAN – JUNE 24, 2024 – Today, environmental NGOs including Rainforest Action Network and the Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society gathered in front of SOMPO’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) to demand the Japanese insurance giant stop …

Insurers are facing the consequences of their decisions over the last half-century. Over the past month, the unfolding insurance crisis has captured headlines. The New York Times detailed how extreme weather events are stretching the insurance sector to its limits, testing the boundaries of what can and cannot be insured. Concurrently, The Guardian highlighted IPCC …

Vienna, 15 May 2024 – In response to Vienna Insurance Group’s updated sustainability rules:

New criteria falls short of aligning with 1.5°C San Francisco – In a SEC filing of “Additional Proxy Soliciting Materials” Chubb quietly updated its oil, gas, and conservation policies. RAN’s analysis, released ahead of Chubb’s Annual General Meeting Thursday, May 16th, has concluded that while the updates are a small improvement, the loopholes and narrow …

2023 was the hottest year on record, as well as the year in which we saw insurance companies abandon their customers most affected by climate risks. Climate change, mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), is accompanied by ever more intense and frequent climatic disasters: forest fires, floods, drought, hurricanes, …

London, 15 April 2024 – A major investigation into the world’s 65 largest insurance companies from the responsible investment charity ShareAction, released 11 April 2024, shows that both people and planet face the triple whammy from insurance companies underwriting and investing in projects that are increasing global warming, damaging the natural environment and failing to …

Brussels, 12 April 2024 – A new report from Finance Watch outlines the steps that must be taken to ensure effective implementation of mandatory transition plans for insurance companies as tools to support transition and manage the related risks. It outlines the urgent need for supervised “prudential” transition plans, pointing to the financial instability that …

Today, as the insurance industry convenes for the first Global Sustainable Insurance Summit in Los Angeles, the 32 campaign groups of the Insure Our Future network have sent a letter to the world’s leading fossil fuel insurers, detailing how they can accelerate the transition to a clean and just energy economy. Demands in the letter …

Zurich, 8 April 2024 – In a Bloomberg story today, the Zurich Insurance Group today announced major new fossil fuel restrictions, excluding the underwriting of new oil and gas extraction and metallurgical coal projects. The Insure Our Future campaign and its Swiss member Campax welcomed the news and called on AIG, Tokio Marine and the big Lloyd’s …

Tokio Marine, Japan’s biggest property and casualty insurer and the 15th largest fossil fuel underwriter in the world, announced on 13th March that its largest subsidiary, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. (TMNF), is strengthening its engagement policy with 60 companies in high Greenhouse Gas (GHG) intensive sectors, and commits to stop insuring, …

This week has been an incredible global week of action for the Insure Our Future campaign, with thousands of people taking part in over 100 actions across 31 countries in 5 continents, including over 100,000 people taking action online. In-person actions include protests in Japan, South Korea, Nigeria, Uganda, Indonesia, UK, USA, Philippines, Pakistan, Tanzania, …

Insurance contracts obtained by the Insure Our Future campaign show how utilities are struggling to find companies to underwrite new coal power projects, reveals a report Exposed: The Coal Insurers of Last Resort. Details of which companies insure which projects are rarely disclosed, so the contracts for KEPCO, Korea’s national power utility, give a unique snapshot …

All of Samsung’s financial subsidiaries, including Samsung Fire & Marine, adopted one of the most concrete coal-exit policies in South Korea   South Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung will commit all of its financial subsidiaries to stop investing in coal companies, a new database of South Korean financial institutions’ climate policies revealed Thursday. As the country’s …

Today, Sompo, one of the top three Japanese non-life insurers, updated its coal policy. Sompo committed to stop underwriting and investing in new and existing coal-fired power plants and coal mines, and new tar sands and energy exploration projects in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Sompo is the first Japanese insurer to rule out …

Today, SCOR, the 4th biggest reinsurer in the world, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) where its CEO Laurent Rousseau took the opportunity to announce SCOR’s first underwriting exclusions on oil. While committing to no longer underwrite new oil projects is a good first step, these restrictions fail to cover gas and are thus inconsistent …

Parent groups, Mothers Rise Up and Parents For Future UK, are calling on Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Chair of Lloyd’s of London and a father of four, to stop insuring the world’s most damaging fossil fuel projects. A group of UK mums will meet with Carnegie-Brown on May 17, ahead of Lloyd’s AGM and hold a Father’s …

On the occasion of the Annual General Meetings (AGM) of Hannover Re (4 May) and its parent company Talanx (5 May), the environmental organisation urgewald, together with Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionär*innen (an association of critical shareholders), is calling on Talanx to take ambitious climate action. Talanx subsidiary Hannover Re announced in March that it would …

Today, Allianz, currently one of the world’s biggest oil and gas insurers, committed to stop insuring and investing in new oil and gas fields, new oil power plants, practices related to the Arctic and new midstream oil infrastructure as of January 2023, and will not renew existing contracts for such projects as of July 1, …

Feeding the fossil monster or clean energy? In this report by Insure Our Future member Re-set – a Czech organization that uses research, education and public engagement to support efforts for a more sustainable and just society – the policies of six major insurers in the Czech Republic [ČSOB pojišťovna, Generali Česká pojišťovna, Allianz, Kooperativa, …

World’s largest reinsurer must align its policies with climate science, say Urgewald and Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionär*innen ahead of its Annual General Meeting Ahead of Munich Re’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on April 28, the environmental and human rights organization Urgewald, as a member of the international campaign network Insure our Future, together with the …

The world’s third-largest electronics giant claims to be an innovative technology leader but faces global scrutiny on Earth Day over its over-reliance on fossil fuels   More than forty global environmental organisations sent a letter to the Samsung Group, urging the company to stop fuelling climate change and set more ambitious climate measures. The letter was delivered …

Aspen joins sixteen companies that have ruled out insuring Trans Mountain Trans Mountain insurer and Lloyd’s of London syndicate Aspen Insurance has pledged to cut ties with the existing Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline when its current insurance policy expires this summer. Aspen joins sixteen insurance companies that have dropped Trans Mountain or vowed not …

Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurer, is being called on by campaigners from Insure Our Future for its failure to rule out oil and gas insurance, despite its competitors adopting exit policies in recent weeks. Munich Re has demonstrated a willingness to act on climate, but its steps are far too small for the urgency …