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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, …

London, 4 March 2024 – (guest content published by Extinction Rebellion) Major insurer Probitas1492 have today (Monday) confirmed that they will never insure two major ‘carbon bomb’ projects – the East African Crude Oil Pipeline and the proposed West Cumbria coal mine – after a week of peaceful protest from Extinction Rebellion (XR) and members …

Statement by Peter Bosshard at the Global Week of Action, Zurich, February 28, 2024 The fossil fuel industry is destroying our planet. After us the deluge, is their motto! The expansion of fossil fuel extraction would not be possible without insurance. And whenever we find information about who is insuring coal and oil projects, Zurich is …

In the last week of February, people in over 30 countries across the world organized demonstrations, marches, and community events at some of the largest global insurance companies – including AIG, Tokio Marine, Zurich, Chubb, Lloyd’s of London, Travelers, Sompo, and The Hartford. These events brought a clear message: Insure our future, not fossil fuels. …

The insurance industry holds the key to a safer, prosperous future if they act now. Over 100 groups in over 27 countries across 5 continents are holding over 80 demonstrations, marches, direct actions and events this week with a clear message: Insure Our Future, not fossil fuels. The insurance industry is uniquely positioned to drive …

The Insure Our Future network and communities from across the world are coming together for the first ever Global Week of Action to spotlight and target the insurance industry for their role in the climate crisis and demand action. Groups in over 27 countries across 5 continents are holding a week’s worth of demonstrations, marches, …

Report with FOIA information reveals which insurers are part of the biggest fossil fuel buildout of this generation Houston, Texas –  At least 35 different insurance companies are responsible for underwriting liquified methane export terminal projects across the U.S Gulf South, according to a report released today by Rainforest Action Network and Public Citizen. The …

At least 35 different insurance companies are responsible for underwriting liquified methane export terminal projects across the U.S Gulf South, according to a report by Rainforest Action Network and Public Citizen. The analysis, based on documents obtained through open record requests, details the insurance coverage for existing and projected methane gas infrastructure that, if built, …

In a significant win for the natural world and the global movement fighting fossil fuel pollution, leading (re)insurance companies SiriusPoint, Riverstone International, Enstar Group, and specialty insurers Blenheim and SA Meacock, have all officially ruled out involvement in the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project. A total of 28 (re)insurers have now declared …

Fifty years after the industry first warned about the growing risks of climate change it continues to provide insurance that allows new fossil fuel projects to go ahead. Insurers are abandoning customers affected by climate risks, yet most continue to fuel the climate emergency by providing cover for increased oil and gas production. Download the …

Zurich, 28 November 2023 – Insure Our Future campaigners are protesting at the Geneva Association’s 50th anniversary summit in Zurich today, demanding that the global insurance industry take immediate action to slow the climate crisis and support the urgent transition from fossil fuels to renewables.  The Geneva Association calls itself the only international association of …

Tokyo, 22 November 2023 – On November 21, MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings (hereafter MS&AD), one of Japan’s three major property and casualty insurers, announced a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target of 37%  for the underwriting and investment portfolio of its domestic clients by 2030, using 2019 as a baseline year* (PR in Japanese). This …

Activists gathered in front of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) annual conference venue in Tokyo, Japan, on the 9th of November, asking the global standard-setting body to take decisive measures and strengthen their efforts to prevent the worsening of the global climate crisis. 📣Outside the @IAISNews annual conference last week attended by over …

Global, 9 November 2023 – Fifty years after the insurance industry first warned about the impact of climate change it is continuing to fuel the climate emergency, the Insure Our Future campaign warns today in its seventh annual scorecard on insurers’ climate policies. The growing frequency and severity of floods, hurricanes, wildfires, droughts and other …

Fifty years after the industry first warned about the growing risks of climate change it continues to provide insurance that allows new fossil fuel projects to go ahead. Insurers are abandoning customers affected by climate risks, yet most continue to fuel the climate emergency by providing cover for increased oil and gas production. Download the …

At a time when every effort should be made to wean the world from fossil fuels, German company RWE announced that it intends to begin the clearance of the ancient forest of Hambach from 14 October 2018, in order to expand Europe’s largest open-pit mine, the Hambach lignite mine. This is an astonishing move considering …

NGOs supporting the Insure Our Future Campaign have called on insurers in a letter to take a stand against coal expansion and refuse to insure a new 660MW coal power plant in the Czech Republic. The Czech state-owned power utility was tendering the insurance contract for its Ledvice III lignite-fired power unit with a deadline …

Many of the world’s biggest insurers, including AIG, Munich Re and Zurich, are undermining global climate goals and Indigenous rights by supporting the tar sands industry, reveals a briefing paper by Insure Our Future Heads in the sand? The insurance industry, tar sands and pipelines. NGOs supporting the campaign have also written a letter to …

We are alumni of Columbia University and members of the Columbia Divest for Climate Justice campaign. We wrote the following letter to urge our fellow Columbia alumnus –Mr. Galateri di Genola – to take bold climate leadership as the Chairman of the Generali Group and stop underwriting coal projects around the globe. Generali’s climate ambition …

Generali is supporting Polish coal plants which are estimated to cause thousands of premature deaths a year and undermine international efforts to combat climate change, NGOs supporting the Insure Our Future campaign will warn at its AGM today. 102,422 people have called on Europe’s third largest insurer to end support for coal, in petitions organised …

Petition calls on insurer to follow lead set by AXA and cease insuring mines and plants More than 90,000 people are calling on Generali to end support for coal, as Europe’s third biggest insurer announces its 2017 financial results. “Every day 53 people in Europe die an early death because of coal pollution”, states a …

In February, Generali announced first measures to reduce its support to the coal sector. Since 2015, 15 insurers have begun excluding coal from their investment portfolios and four of them have also committed to stop underwriting parts of the coal sector. It was thus time for Generali to join a development that the Financial Times …

Generali coal policy does not go nearly far enough Generali has announced plans to divest €2 billion from coal but is not following AXA, Zurich and SCOR in restricting underwriting. Generali is one of the insurance companies doing most to support the growth of Poland’s coal industry, supporting companies which are undermining international efforts to combat …

Coal kills. Pollution from European coal power plants is responsible for an estimated 22,900 premature deaths every year, and health insurers are playing a surprising role in backing these projects. One country, Poland, is responsible for more than a quarter of this frightening total, and is planning to expand its coal industry with 10GW of …

Allianz, Generali and Munich Re underwrite Europe’s biggest new coal power plant Major European insurers are backing the growth of Poland’s coal industry, supporting companies which are undermining international efforts to combat climate change and causing thousands of early deaths a year across the continent, reveals a briefing from the Insure Our Future campaign published …

This briefing focuses on non-Polish European insurers playing a critical role in supporting the coal industry and its expansion in Poland. Since 2013, they have signed at least 21 underwriting contracts, providing cover without which new projects could not be built and existing operations would have to shut down. State-owned PGE is adding 1,800MW to …

The 2017 Scorecard finds 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 Insure Our Future …