Eight large European insurers rely on climate protection

Eight large European insurers and reinsurers want to agree on common guidelines for an active contribution to climate protection. The members of the newly founded "Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA)" have committed to making their insurance portfolios free of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as the head of the initiative, AXA boss Thomas Buberl, explained. In addition to the French AXA, the alliance that came together in the spring includes Allianz and Münchner Rück from Germany, Zurich and Swiss Re from Switzerland, the British Aviva and the French reinsurer Scor. The Italian Generali joined the NZIA as the eighth member. Its CEO, Philippe Donnet, presented the merger at a climate summit on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Venice. The insurers want to set themselves individual targets that should be reviewed every five years. They want to report on the progress every year. The insurability of companies or their plants is ultimately linked to whether they have credible strategies for the transition to a greenhouse gas-free world, said the UN special envoy for climate protection, Mark Carney. Most of the participants in the NZIA, including Allianz and Münchner Rück, have already set themselves guidelines - also under pressure from investors - that make it extremely difficult, for example, to insure coal-fired power plants or coal-miners. Many have also committed to align their investments according to climate protection criteria. Environmental and climate protection organizations welcomed the initiative, but criticized the fact that insurers do not categorically exclude policies for emitters of greenhouse gases. "Allianz, Axa, Munich Re and Zurich, four of eight founding members of the NZIA, are among the ten most important property and casualty insurers in the oil and gas sector," said Regine Richter from the Urgewald organization. "They have to make a commitment not to secure any new oil and gas projects, and as soon as possible, if their climate ambitions are to be taken seriously."