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Article

15 Nov 2017

Author:
Lucy Burton, The Telegraph (UK)

Switzerland: Zurich Insurance ends coal investments over mounting climate change concerns

"Zurich ends coal investments as insurers pull $20bn from sector", 15 Nov 2017

Zurich has become the latest insurance giant to cut ties with coal-intensive businesses, bringing the amount insurers have pulled from these companies to around $20bn (£15.2bn) in just two years...Zurich has decided to pull money and stop offering insurance to companies that depend on coal for more than half of their turnover, announcing a change to its policies months after Greenpeace wrote to the world's largest insurers urging them to take action.

French insurance giant Axa was the world's first financial institution to divest from coal, removing hundreds of millions worth of coal investments in 2015, with Allianz following suit some months later. Swiss Re and Lloyd’s are set to unveil new policies in the coming months.

...[A] report [published by the Unfriend Coal campaign]...ranked the world's biggest insurers by their climate change policies..."So far, no American insurer has taken meaningful action on coal and climate change, and even industry giants such as Berkshire Hathaway, AIG and Liberty Mutual have remained completely silent about the catastrophic climate risks affecting their clients," the report said.

Coal as an energy source is not only in decline in developed countries – the International Energy Agency (IEA) said...that major energy demand centres, such as China and India, are also reducing their reliance on coal-fired power in favour of renewable energy...[also refers to AXA, Allianz, Lloyd's of London, and Swiss Re]