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The Australian insurance giant, Suncorp, will no longer invest in, finance or insure new thermal coal mines and power plants, and will no longer subscribe to any existing thermal coal projects after 2025.
This is the latest in a series of commitments by banks and financial services companies not to support projects for the extraction or burning of coal for electricity generation, in line with the objectives of the 2015 Paris agreement on the climate.
Activists said Suncorp's announcement meant that there were no more Australian insurers willing to underwrite new thermal coal developments.
Suncorp, which owns the insurance brands AAMI and GIO, made the headlines in February, announcing that its half-year profit had dropped 45%, mainly due to extreme weather conditions in Sydney and Queensland.
Its president, Michael Cameron, then called on the government to force Australian companies to adopt action plans to deal with climate change in order to prepare for natural disasters.
In a statement released Friday, the $ 17 billion company said climate change posed a financial and strategic risk, but was also an opportunity. She said to have applied a fictitious carbon price, baduming that greenhouse gas emissions have a cost, in her investment decisions since 2017 and had recently extended it to all. of its activities.
"The practical result is that we have significantly reduced our investments in fossil fuels, including thermal coal," said one official. "We will seek to increase exposure to companies with a positive impact on the environment, including renewable energy production and technology."
Suncorp's competitor, QBE, said in March that it will not insure more new thermal coal projects and will cease subscribing existing operations starting in 2030.
Market Forces, a group of activists affiliated with Friends of the Earth, this week tabled a shareholder resolution calling on Suncorp to set goals for the phase-out of all fossil fuels, including coal, oil and gas. Activist Pablo Brait said the company's announcement was significant.
"Any company wishing to operate a coal plant beyond 2030 will now be unable to call an Australian insurer. [Energy companies] AGL and Origin might want to take note, "he said.
Brait asked Suncorp to go further. "Without action on oil and gas, Suncorp may end up trading a huge climate risk against another over time," he said.
Suncorp said in February that its experience with extreme events has resulted in an increase of $ 100 million in its annual natural risk allocation and additional coverage of $ 200 million in reinsurance.
Market forces reported that Suncorp floods, fires and cyclones increased by $ 1.7 billion over the budget allocated to the group over the last decade.
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