Some places – think of China’s Great Wall, Egypt’s pyramids, the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef – are of such outstanding universal value that they have been recognized as World Heritage Sites. Under a UN convention, host governments commit to protect these sites for present and future generations while they derive some economic […]
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NGOs supporting the Unfriend Coal 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 of […]
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The Unfriend Coal Campaign today welcomed Swiss Re’s decision to stop reinsuring businesses with more than 30% exposure to thermal coal and called on Munich Re to follow suit. Peter Bosshard, coordinator of the Unfriend Coal Campaign, said: “Swiss Re’s announcement sends a strong signal from one of the world’s ultimate managers of risk to governments, […]
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With AXA, Allianz and Zurich, some of the world’s biggest insurers have stopped or limited insuring coal projects. Smaller players often don’t have the expertise and financial strength to do the due diligence and insure the risks of billion-dollar coal mines and power plants on their own. They need back-up support from reinsurance companies to […]
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Hannover Re, world’s third-largest reinsurer, latest to restrict investment Close to half the global reinsurance market has now divested from coal after Hannover Re informed the Unfriend Coal campaign and Urgewald that it has adopted an exclusion policy. Hannover Re has set a tight threshold, divesting from companies which depend on coal for more than […]
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By Lucie Pinson, Senior Campaigner, Unfriend Coal When I joined a meeting of Unfriend Coal campaigners at the InterContinental Hotel in Paris the other day, a staff member of the Geneva Association, the think-tank of global insurance CEOs, stood at the door to our meeting room listening in. Caught in an awkward situation, she quickly […]
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Heads in the sand? The insurance industry, tar sands and pipelines 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 the Unfriend Coal campaign released today. NGOs supporting the campaign have also written […]
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Intro 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 is not […]
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By Lucie Pinson, Senior Campaigner, Unfriend Coal Aviva was asked during its AGM to complement its engagement with a consequential divestment approach, focusing its engagement on a small number of companies and divesting from others, starting with companies expanding their activities in carbon-intensive sectors such as coal and tar sands. In response, Sir Adrian Montague, […]
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Funding for developers planning 90GW of new coal power at odds with insurer’s climate commitments Download the briefing (PDF) – Aviva and Coal: a very long engagement Aviva has more than £920 million invested in companies developing new coal projects and operating in the tar sands industry, despite its support for the Paris Climate […]
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By Lucie Pinson, Senior Campaigner, Unfriend Coal “Left unchecked, climate change will render significant portions of the economy uninsurable, shrinking our addressable market”, Aviva warned in its 2015 strategic response to climate change . Known for its bold statements on climate change, British insurer Aviva is widely considered a climate leader in the finance industry. And […]
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By Yuki Tanabe, Program Director, Japan Centre for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES) In surprise announcements, the two largest life insurance companies of Japan have indicated that they will stop financing new coal projects. In late April, Nippon Life Insurance, the largest Japanese insurance company, announced that it was considering an end to new lending […]
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Campaigners welcome decision, ask industry laggards to ditch coal as well IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday May 4, 2018 Allianz, the world’s biggest insurance company by assets, announced today that it will no longer provide stand-alone insurance coverage for coal power plants or coal mines. The German insurer also announced that it will ban all companies planning to […]
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Motion increases pressure on CEOs meeting in city to divest and withdraw insurance The Paris city council is calling on the world’s biggest insurance companies to end support for the coal industry, citing its impact on climate change and the pollution that causes 23,000 premature deaths across Europe every year. The latest action follows the […]
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By Regine Richter, Energy and Finance Campaigner, Urgewald Munich RE cautioned against climate change long before others. The reinsurer has raised the issue since the 1970s. “We are the ones warning,” reiterated CEO Joachim Wenning at Munich RE’s Annual General Meeting on 25 April 2018. He made clear that he understands what the Paris climate […]
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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 Unfriend Coal 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 by […]
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By Stephanie Morton, Insurance Lawyer, ClientEarth The coal industry and climate change are inextricably linked. As a result, underwriting and investing in coal presents a number of business risks to insurers. These include underwriting risk, strategic risk, investment risk and reputational risk. Many are set to be identified and discussed in an ‘issues paper’ on […]
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Insurer adopts coal divestment policy but takes no action on syndicates Lloyd’s new coal divestment policy affects just 2.5% of the market it oversees, leaving its syndicates free to continue business as usual with £77.5 billion exposed to climate risk, NGOs supporting the Unfriend Coal campaign warned today after receiving detailed information from the insurer. […]
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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”, [1] states […]
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By Peter Bosshard, Finance Program Director, The Sunrise Project In spite of frequent mass shootings and soaring numbers of gun victims, the gun debate in the United States was stuck in the tracks for many years. The courageous, angry and outspoken survivors of the Parkland school massacre in Florida have swept away this blocked debate […]
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