Austria’s Uniqa will stop insuring new coal plants and mines, becoming the tenth insurer to announce restrictions on its cover for coal. The new policy is available here.
For existing clients, Uniqa will decide whether to renew contracts in 2025, depending on the energy transition plans of each client.
“Coal exclusion policies are coming thick and fast among European insurers and we welcome Uniqa’s move. However, criteria for contract renewal in 2025 need to be clarified. We recommend Uniqa demands its clients adopt a coal phase out plan aligned with the Paris Agreement - closure of European assets by 2030. This policy is bad news for the Polish coal sector. Following in the footsteps of Allianz, Generali and Munich Re, Uniqa’s coal exit leaves Talanx as the only major, non-Polish insurer active in Poland that hasn’t committed to stop insuring new coal plants and mines.”
"Poland’s 7GW new coal pipeline stands in the way of the European coal exit and Talanx Group subsidiaries Warta and Hannover Re are the insurance crutches holding up the Polish coal industry. In the wake of VIG, Mapfre and Uniqa’s recent policies, all eyes now turn to Talanx. Willis Towers Watson recently noted the negative impact of insurers’ coal exit on coal developers in its 2019 Power and Renewable Energy Market report, stating “This reduction in available capacity will invariably see upward pressure on rates and coverages as the competition for market share in this specific sector will be much more limited.”
Insure Our Future has identified at least 33 contracts signed since 2013 to insure new and existing coal mines and power plants in Poland. Talanx’s subsidiary Tuir Warta insured 17 of them.
Uniqa Group is Austria’s largest insurer and has a strong presence in Central and Eastern Europe.
