Insurers accelerated the shift away from coal, new study finds

Fossil fuel exclusions are effective but Lloyd’s and Zurich play questionable roles. Insurance companies which adopted coal restrictions significantly reduced the number of coal mines and the amount of coal which they insured in the United States, thus contributing to the shift away from coal. This is the main finding of a new working paper which …

The 2025 Insurance AGM Season: Continued Inaction on Climate

Many insurance companies across Europe and North America just wrapped up their annual shareholder meetings. Insure Our Future network organisations recently attended to assess how insurers are approaching climate risk and fossil fuels, as the climate crisis intensifies and threatens to undermine the insurance industry itself. What they witnessed was a bleak picture of continued …

18 global insurers and 10 banks have excluded the Alaska LNG from their support

18 global insurers and 10 banks have excluded the Alaska LNG from their support – Environmental NGOs urged Tokio Marine to comply its policy at the annual general meeting – Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES) Friends of the Earth Japan Mekong Watch Rainforest Action Network (RAN) Oil Change International First published …

Insurers’ exclusion policies contribute to mine closures, study finds

A new academic study by researchers at the University of Zurich and the Swiss Finance Institute provides the first systematic evidence on the effects of insurers’ carbon underwriting policies. The study finds that when major insurers wield their underwriting power to manage climate risks, this can have real consequences for the coal industry. Using data …

Open letter to new Lloyd’s of London CEO Patrick Tiernan calling for climate leadership

London, June 2 2025 – Reclaim Finance has published an open letter addressed to Patrick Tiernan, who begins his tenure as CEO of Lloyd’s of London on June 1st. The open letter calls on him to show real leadership on climate change in the face of spiralling climate risks, in particular by taking the first …

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: ###

Institutional investors conduct climate change engagement with SOMPO after being encouraged by environmental NGOs

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 …

Generali, a new step forward in the fight against oil and gas expansion

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 …

For a few dollars more -Report by Reclaim Finance

For a few dollars more – the Fossil Fuel Policies of Lloyd’s Managing Agents 2

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 lake

Too little, too late: Zurich publishes unambitious transition plan

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). …

Letter sent to SOMPO’s 50 shareholders to engage with the insurer to stop underwriting new fossil fuels

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 …

Property & Casualty Companies Facing Rising Claims While Fostering Fossil Fuels

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 …

Report: Playing With Fire: Canadian Insurers & Fossil Fuels

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.

Risk Exposure: The insurers secretly backing the methane gas boom in the U.S. Gulf South

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 …

Oil Refinery Gas Chemical Equipment Prodiction import export Concept, Crude Oil Refinery Plant Steel Pump Pipe line and Chimney and Cooling tower, Chemical or Petrochemical Factory plant, industry

Victory as Leading Global Insurers at Lloyd’s of London Rule Out Controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline

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 …

Zurich in the morning by elxeneize

Global association of Insurance CEOs confronted by climate protest at 50th summit – Will they ‘Safeguard the Planet’ or Greenwash business as usual?

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 …

Insurers withdraw cover for climate risks while backing increased fossil fuel production, industry must act to support 1.5°C climate target after 50 years of failure

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 …

Huge quarry bucket excavator works in a hot outdoors slag dump.

Reinsurers fuel the climate crisis while climate victims pay the price

Baden-Baden, 20 October 2023 – Ahead of the annual reinsurance congress in Baden-Baden, Urgewald and the international Insure Our Future network call on reinsurers to end their continued unqualified support of the fossil fuel industry, emissions from which are the prime contributor to global climate change. Reinsurance companies, whose role is to provide insurance to …

Oil refineries illuminated at night in Wakayama, Japan

Tokio Marine’s intermediate decarbonisation target lacks ambition and impact

Tokyo, 2 October 2023 – On September 29th, Tokio Marine, Japan’s biggest property and casualty insurer and the 7th* biggest globally, announced its “Interim Target for 2030 for the Transition to a Decarbonized Society“. It has set an engagement target within its domestic subsidiary, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. (TMNF), to engage …

Coal mining in surface mine. Miner looking on the huge excavator.

Leading European insurers underwrite 30% of U.S. coal despite net zero pledges

Washington, D.C., 28 September 2023 – Leading European insurers are underwriting nearly a third of U.S. coal production despite their net zero commitments, reveals a new report released today by Insure Our Future. Lloyd’s of London, Zurich and Swiss Re are among the top ten insurers of the 25 biggest U.S. mines, which produced more …

View into a coal mine with working wheel excavator

International NGOs urge climate laggards Samsung Fire and Marine and Samsung Life to immediately set comprehensive coal phase out policies and stop renewing coal insurance

Seoul, 21 September 2023 – In a collective effort to address the climate crisis, a group of 29 NGOs from across the world, including Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC) and Insure Our Future, has issued an open letter to the CEOs of Samsung Fire and Marine (Samsung FM) and Samsung Life Insurance demanding stronger climate …

nyiragongo volcano, nord Kivu, DRC

New Report from Greenpeace: Congo oil fields are quickly becoming uninsurable

Kinshasa, 8 September 2023 – Any company granted exploration and exploitation rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) oil auction could find itself without financial protection, according to a report published today by Greenpeace Africa, Insure our Future, Reclaim Finance and Urgewald. If leading insurance and reinsurance companies follow their commitments and their general …

Allianz’s transition plan: bold but with serious loopholes

On September 7, 2023, leading global insurance company Allianz published its first Net Zero Transition Plan.  Peter Bosshard, Global Network Coordinator of the Insure Our Future campaign commented: Allianz’s transition plan is transparent, comprehensive, timely and in many ways ambitious but contains serious gaps when it comes to new gas infrastructure. If Allianz closes these loopholes, its transition …

Insurance Industry Scorecard Update Reports 20 Global Insurers now Protect Land Sacred to Alaska Natives in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

FAIRBANKS, AK – An update to the Gwich’in Steering Committee (GSC) insurance industry scorecard released today reports 20 insurers now have a policy that protects Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit (“The Sacred Place Where Life Begins”) from oil and gas development. The scorecard tracks global insurance companies’ policies on fossil fuel development in the coastal plain of the Arctic …

Cityscape Tokyo Japan

Three major Japanese non-life insurers left NZIA and failed to disclose the intermediate targets by deadline – NGOs urge insurers to set intermediate targets for emissions of their underwriting portfolio immediately

Tokyo, 2 August 2023, Joint Statement via Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES), Kiko Network, Friends of the Earth Japan, 350.org Japan, Mekong Watch and Insure Our Future – Three major Japanese non-life insurers (Tokio Marine Holdings, SOMPO Holdings and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings), which left the UN-led Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (hereinafter …

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