Insurers must manage climate risk, not worsen it

Insurers are not just takers of risk, they’re makers of risk. That’s the message I left the audience at a Financial Times industry panel event last week, joined by insurance leaders from Howden, Munich Re, and Risilience.  The panel sought to understand the impacts of the so-called insurability crisis, that is the withdrawal of major …

Tallgrass Institute report: Free, Prior and Informed Consent Due Diligence for Insurers

Tallgrass Institute Publishes FPIC Due Diligence Guide for Insurers

Within the insurance industry, there are multiple touchpoints with Indigenous Peoples. Insurance companies with policies that respect Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination and to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) may find more opportunity to partner in an expanding marketplace. There is also a growing recognition among insurance providers of the risks associated with failing …

Beautiful Architecture building cityscape with tower in Seoul city South Korea

Insured for profit, not for protection? Korean insurers face scrutiny over fossil fuel investments and disaster coverage

Seoul, April 29 2025 – Originally posted by Solutions For Our Climate here – Consumers Korea, with the help of Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), is calling on regulators to examine the role of insurance companies in both worsening the climate crisis and denying compensation for its consequences. On April 29, Consumers Korea submitted a …

Strong shareholder vote sends Fairfax a clear message on climate risk

The Fairfax AGM was last week where our proposal asking the company to disclose its financed emissions was voted on. The company has now released the voting results, unfortunately not breaking out the numbers by shares controlled by the CEO vs. those voted by other shareholders, but we can calculate those numbers based on turnout. The result: a …

Climate change: senior insurance leader warns of economic collapse

Zurich, 31 March 2025 – Why are all his peers remaining silent? Managing the risks of natural disasters, insurers are well aware of the fundamental risks which climate change poses to the global financial system and society. Munich Re first predicted growing climate risks in 1973, and the then CEO of AXA famously warned in …

Swiss insurance companies under the climate microscope

Zurich, 27 March 2025 – New report from Campax reveals none of Switzerland’s eight largest property and liability insurers have climate policies that are compatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement. This in-depth look at the Swiss insurance landscape suggests smaller regional companies tend to perform less well than international heavyweights. Generali leads the …

Insurance gap in the age of climate crisis: New report spotlights Vienna Insurance Group’s alarming lack of effective climate policies

Prague, 11 March 2025 – As the impacts of climate crisis intensify, the role of the insurance business in either mitigating or deepening the crisis cannot be ignored. A new report The Insurance Gap in the Age of Climate Crisis: Ranking the Major Insurers in Central and Eastern Europe by the Czech NGO Re-set focuses …

SOMPO becomes Japan’s first non-life insurer to adopt a policy respecting indigenous peoples’ rights including FPIC

January 15, 2025 Joint statement:  SOMPO becomes Japan’s first non-life insurer to adopt a policy respecting indigenous peoples’ rights including FPIC. We urge Tokio Marine and MS&AD to follow SOMPO! Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES) Friends of the Earth Japan Mekong Watch Rainforest Action Network On January 10, SOMPO Holdings, Inc. …

Climate change accounts for over a third of insured weather losses this century and rising

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 …

Report: Within Our Power, Cut Emissions Today to Insure Tomorrow

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 …

Addressing the insurance crisis requires a unified approach to decarbonisation and resilience

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 …

Insure Our Future responds to EIOPA’s recognition of the elevated risks of fossil fuels

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: ###

Over forty environmental organizations urge Samsung to stop fueling climate change

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 …

The Oil and Gas Policy Tracker

A tool to detect greenwashing practices in the finance sector Reclaim Finance and more than 15 NGOs launch the “Oil and Gas Policy Tracker” (OGPT). The tool is the first of its kind: it assesses in great detail the oil and gas exclusion policies (or lack thereof) of the 150 biggest financial institutions worldwide. The …

Korean insurers have exited new coal while other financial institutions fail to meet global standards

Korean insurers have stopped providing coverage for the construction and operation of new coal-fired power plants finds new report A majority of financial institutions in South Korea failed to meet global standards of divestment from coal, Solutions for Our Climate said in its Wave of Coal Exit Pledges in 2021, Still Lacking Effective Policies issue …

2021 Scorecard on Insurance, Fossil Fuels & Climate Change

Insuring Our Future: The 2021 Scorecard on Insurance, Fossil Fuels and Climate Change, focuses on 30 of the world’s top insurers. It is published by 26 organizations from 14 countries and will be launched today at the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow. Insure Our Future’s fifth annual report on the insurance industry’s response to …

Insurers’ support for oil and gas undermines climate targets

Coal industry nearly uninsurable as U.S. & Bermuda companies provide last lifeline  The global insurance industry is undermining efforts to meet climate targets by continuing to support new oil and gas production, the Insure Our Future campaign reveals today in its fifth annual scorecard on insurers’ climate policies. Only three insurers, France’s AXA, Italy’s Generali, …

Samsung is still biggest coal insurer in Korea

In November 2020, Samsung Fire & Marine became the first major Asian insurance company to publicly announce an end to insuring new coal-fired power plants. However, recent coal insurance data from Korea Electric Power Corporation’s (KEPCO’s) subsidiaries indicates Samsung F&M remains the biggest coal insurer questioning the validity and effectiveness of its coal policy.  2020 …

2020 Scorecard on Insurance, Fossil Fuels and Climate Change

The 2020 Scorecard finds that Insurers’ continued retreat from coal is making it harder and more expensive to secure insurance for coal projects. Although momentum is growing, it falls short of what is needed to drive action to meet international climate targets. Major companies in the U.S., the Lloyd’s market and East Asia are still …

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

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 is needed to …

Samsung the first Asian insurer to announce an end to insuring new coal projects

The race towards an exit from the coal sector among East Asia’s major powers is picking up speed. Responding to similar announcement from China and Japan, the Korean government committed to carbon neutrality by 2050 at the end of October. With a surprise announcement from Samsung, it seems Korean companies are now starting to extend …

Insurers withdrawing cover from coal projects double in 2019

46% of reinsurance market and 37% of industry’s global assets covered by coal exit policies The number of insurers withdrawing cover for coal has more than doubled in 2019 as the industry’s retreat from the sector accelerates and spreads beyond Europe, the Insure Our Future campaign reveals today in its third annual scorecard on insurance, …

2019 Scorecard on Insurance, Coal and Climate Change

46% of reinsurance market and 37% of industry’s global assets covered by coal exit policies. The number of insurers withdrawing cover for coal has more than doubled in 2019 as the industry’s retreat from the sector accelerates and spreads beyond Europe, the Unfriend Coal campaign reveals today in its third annual scorecard on insurance, coal …

Insure Our Future recommendations to the insurance industry

Fifteen NGOs supporting the Insure Our Future campaign warn insurance CEOs of increasing public pressure on companies that do not end their support for coal, extending scrutiny to Asian and North American companies. Dear Madam/Sir, Since 2017, the organizations engaged in the Insure Our Future campaign have called on the insurance industry to stop underwriting …

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