There is an uplifting story for once on the coal industry from the Washington Post today. A coalition of major private insurers named the Net Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), along with green activists have been working with the private sector for action on the deadly carbon released from burning coal that is rapidly killing the biosphere. The coal industry and most national governments will not act, which has proven accurate time after time.
Steven Mufson writes:
Thomas Buberl, chief executive of Axa, the giant French underwriting firm, is leading a coalition of eight major insurers called the Net Zero Insurance Alliance. The goal, he said in an interview, is to have “all the insurers applying a methodology to only underwrite companies directed toward climate transition and not to the dark ages of burning coal.”
If that sounds like corporate activism, it’s because many corporate executives are trying to use their financial clout to achieve what other activists have had trouble achieving through regulation or negotiation at events such as next week’s climate summit, COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland. And many activists who have had trouble rallying governments are looking to the private sector for reinforcements.
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“Without insurance there is no financing,” Buberl said. “If you get the majority of the market together to align on principles of insuring in a climate-friendly way, it will have an even bigger effect on financing.” He said he has invited insurers who have not joined the alliance to sit in and listen at meetings.
Coal companies are already feeling the pinch.
“Increasingly, both foreign and domestic banks, insurance companies and large investors are curtailing or ending their financial relationships with fossil fuel-related companies,” Peabody Energy said in its annual report. “This has had adverse impacts on the liquidity and operations of coal producers.”
Insure Our Future estimates that coal companies face insurance rate increases of up to 40 percent.
From the Net Zero Insurance Alliance home page:
The commitment signed by the members of the NZIA is accredited by the UN Race to Zero, having been reviewed by an independent expert review group comprising scientific and technical experts and practitioners. It is also a member of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero.
The struggle continues.
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