By moving away from coal, insurance companies can contribute to their fundamental business purpose: to protect society from catastrophic risks. Read this opinion piece by Peter Bosshard in Mongabay.
It’s time for the insurance industry to unfriend coal
You can’t drive a car or buy a house without insurance. Likewise, the coal industry can’t get its mines and power plants funded without insurance coverage.
Insurance companies are supposed to protect us from catastrophic risks, and climate change is certainly the most serious risk that human society is facing. In spite of this, the insurance industry plays a critical role in enabling climate-destroying coal projects.
Every year, coal kills millions of people through air pollution, accidents, and black lung disease. Burning coal for energy is also the single biggest contributor to manmade climate change. Even though better solutions are available, more than 1,000 coal-fired power plants are currently in the planning cycle or under construction around the world. None of these projects can go ahead if average temperature increases are to stay below two degrees Celsius.
