Prime European corporations underwriting 30% of US coal regardless of internet zero commitments

A latest report by Insure Our Future reveals that main European insurers are supporting almost one-third of US coal manufacturing regardless of their commitments to attain net-zero emissions.

The report highlights insurers like Lloyd’s of London, Zurich, and Swiss Re among the many high ten underwriters for 25 main US mines, contributing to over 60% of the nation’s coal manufacturing in 2022. These insurers underwrite 13 mines, constituting 30.7% of nationwide output.

The insurers masking essentially the most coal manufacturing are as follows:

Coal is a big contributor to CO2 emissions, and the US stands because the fourth-largest coal producer globally, mining 595 million quick tons in 2022 alone. Regardless of mounting world stress and focused campaigns, Insure Our Future stated that main insurers are exploiting loopholes or disregarding their very own insurance policies to proceed underwriting coal mines.

AIG emerges as the biggest underwriter of US coal, insuring seven mines accounting for 28.1% of the nationwide output. Lloyd’s of London follows, underwriting 10 mines, constituting 22.8% of the output. Whereas Lloyd’s goals to guide the market in direction of a net-zero underwriting place, it doesn’t mandate or prohibit the underwriting insurance policies of its market members.

The report additionally highlights the necessity for insurers to commit firmly to stop insuring all coal mining in OECD international locations by 2030 and scale back their protection of coal by 50% by 2025, aligning with the actions taken by different main insurers based mostly on local weather science.

The report underscores the urgency to handle coal emissions, emphasizing that emissions from coal combustion must fall drastically by 2025, 2030, and 2050 to remain inside a 1.5°C world warming restrict. Nevertheless, world coal manufacturing reached an all-time excessive in 2022.

Moreover, lots of the insurers talked about additionally present householders and small enterprise protection. Nevertheless, insurers are more and more withdrawing from climate-affected areas or elevating premiums as a result of concern of great monetary losses from climate-related pure disasters, leaving residence and enterprise homeowners extremely susceptible.

What are your ideas on this story? Please be at liberty to share your feedback beneath.