Skip to content
  • MyNewMarkets.com
  • Claims Journal
  • Insurance Journal TV
  • Academy of Insurance
  • Carrier Management
Insurance Journal - Property Casualty Industry News

Featured Stories

  • ‘Scattered Spider’ Hacks Are Targeting Aviation Sector
  • Paper Company Agrees to $300K PFAS Settlement
  • Articles
  • Jobs
  • Markets

Current Magazine

current magazine
  • Read Online
  • Subscribe
  • Login
  • Front Page
    • National
    • International
    • Most Popular
    • Magazine
    • Forums
    • Blogs
    • Videos/Podcasts
    • Newsletters
  • News
    • Most Popular
    • National
    • International
    • East
    • Midwest
    • South Central
    • Southeast
    • West
  • Magazines
  • Research
  • Directories
  • Jobs
  • Features
    • Events
    • Forums
    • Market Directories
    • Quotes
    • Polls
    • Rankings & Awards
    • Insurance Giving Back
  • Subscribe

Anti-ESG Rhetoric in U.S. Prompts Urgent Talks as Insurers Quit Climate Coalition

By Alastair Marsh | May 24, 2023
Email This Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Article

The world’s biggest climate coalition for insurers is set to hold emergency talks after a wave of defections revealed the extent to which anti-ESG rhetoric in the US is unsettling members.

Signatories of the Net Zero Insurance Alliance are due to meet Thursday to discuss next steps after some of the group’s biggest members including Munich Re walked out, according to people familiar with the process who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

The development follows an escalation of Republican Party attacks on businesses and investors perceived to be embracing environmental, social and good governance goals. In a May 15 letter, attorneys general representing 23 US states said they were “concerned with the legality” of the NZIA, as they blamed the group for rising insurance and gas prices, and linked the alliance to “record-breaking” inflation.

Swiss Re Becomes Fourth Insurer to Leave Net Zero Group

The letter is the latest example of the GOP turning to antitrust rules as a lever through which to vilify ESG. GOP senators announced plans last year to fight “ESG collusion,” while House Republicans ended 2022 by launching an investigation into whether climate alliances “are violating antitrust laws.” The goal is to single out those “advancing the ESG agenda,” they said.

“Global companies find themselves between a rock and hard place,” said Karl Racine, a former attorney general of the District of Columbia, who’s now a partner at Hogan Lovells. While Europe has “embraced ESG and established regulatory and legal requirements to support it,” the situation in the US is shaped by partisan politics. “Global companies are, thus, confronted with challenging questions as to how to navigate these disparate waters,” he said.

The United Nations Environment Programme, which convened the NZIA in 2021, said in a statement Wednesday that the decision by some signatories to walk away from the alliance was “in light of the recent discussions within the United States.” UNEP didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday’s meeting.

NZIA, which hasn’t had any US members since being convened, has seen four major insurers walk out since the end of March. Munich Re’s defection was followed by Zurich Insurance Group AG and Hannover Re. This week, Swiss Re joined the exodus. All four have said they remain committed to climate goals, but preferred to pursue these in isolation rather than as part of the NZIA.

“The biggest success of the anti-ESG movement is getting companies to talk less about ESG,” said Joshua Lichtenstein, a partner at law firm Ropes & Gray LLP in New York. “They have slowed the trajectory of ESG communications here in the US. But clearly, the pro-ESG side is still winning by a pretty large margin.”

The legal foundation of the GOP’s attacks on ESG remains unclear. Sonali Siriwardena, partner and global head of ESG at Simmons & Simmons in London, said that with the AGs requesting documentation on the types of communications between NZIA members, as well as the kinds of commitments made and the factors influencing efforts to cut emissions, it now “remains to be seen how robust these allegations will be and how NZIA members will respond.”

Other NZIA members have signaled they remain committed to the group.

The alliance “has played an important role developing the critical standards and frameworks for insurers to meet net zero,” a spokesperson for Aviva Plc said in an emailed comment. “In light of recent developments, we are working with the UN and other members to determine the best course of action going forward. We remain fully committed to pursuing our ambition of becoming a net zero company by 2040.”

For firms that remain in the alliance, “they are going to have to evaluate whether their continued participation is actually going to harm them commercially in terms of contracts from red states,” Lichtenstein said.

The NZIA, which at its peak represented roughly 15% of the insurance industry’s global premiums, is one of eight climate finance coalitions within the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero of which former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney was the principal architect.

In an emailed statement, UNEP said that “regardless of the situation,” it “reaffirms its conviction ever since it initiated, convened, and launched the NZIA — that in order to successfully tackle the climate emergency, there is a fundamental and urgent need for collaboration, not just individual action.”

(Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, is co-chair of GFANZ together with Carney.)

–With assistance from Saijel Kishan.

Photo credit: Guenter Schiffmann/Bloomberg

Related:

  • Insurers Latest Target of U.S. AGs ESG Antitrust Concerns
  • Hannover Re Latest Company to Leave Net-Zero Insurance Alliance
  • Zurich Exits Insurance Climate Alliance, Days After Munich Re
  • Munich Re Exits Insurance Climate Group, Citing ‘Material’ Legal Risks
Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Carriers

Was this article valuable?

Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article.

Thank you! % of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it.

Here are more articles you may enjoy.

Lloyd’s Applauds Removal of Section 899 Tax Measure From ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’
Hedge Fund Strategy Built on Catastrophes Taps a Hot New Trend – Parametrics
DC Sues 4 Drivers With 1,000 Outstanding Traffic Violations
Slide’s Exec Pay Leads to Questions About Florida Citizens’ Rate Model

Written By Alastair Marsh

More From Author

Interested in Carriers?

Get automatic alerts for this topic.

Email This Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Categories: International & Reinsurance NewsTopics: Climate Change, environmental social and governance (ESG) criteria, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), global warming, Hannover Re, Munich Re, net zero emissions, Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), Swiss Re, Zurich Insurance
  • Have a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk@insurancejournal.com
More News
Truckers Fear Job Loss as New English Language Rules Take Effect
New Carrier Reporting Requirements on Investments, Liquidity, SC DOI Says
Senate Strikes AI Regulation Ban From Trump Megabill
Homes Are Taking Longer to Sell in US Markets That Once Flourished
More News Features

Read This Next

  • Anti-ESG Rhetoric in U.S. Prompts Urgent Talks as Insurers Quit Climate Coalition
  • Massachusetts Cuts Red Tape on Insurers, Plus Banks, Contractors, Barbers and More
  • Business Worries
  • Erie Insurance: 'No Evidence' of Ransomware in Network Outage
  • Lloyd's Applauds Removal of Section 899 Tax Measure From 'One Big Beautiful Bill'

Insurance Jobs

  • Licensed Insurance Sales Agent - Remote
  • Marketing Manager - Chicago, IL
  • Commercial Lines Account Manager – Insurance – REMOTE - Remote
  • Personal Lines Account Manager – Insurance – REMOTE - Remote
  • Controller - NYC Area
MyNewMarkets
  • Is It Covered: Auto Coverage Under a CGL Policy
  • When Harassment Follows You Home: Managing EPL Risk in a Remote Work Era
  • Trouble Brewing? 6 New Risks for Winery and Brewery Clients
  • Risk Management Considerations When Having Family Fun
  • Lights, Camera, Action: New Risks Emerge as Hollywood Goes Virtual, Hunts Tax Credits
Claims Journal
  • Verisk: Cargo Theft over July 4 Holiday Week Has Escalated in Recent Years
  • Invoking 'Our Option' and Preferred Contractor Network Endorsements
  • Meta, TikTok Can Be Sued by Mother of Teen Killed While 'Subway Surfing'
  • IIHS: Poor Mental Health, Police Cuts Fueled Spike in Impaired-Driving Deaths COVID
  • US Warns Iran-Tied Hackers Pose Ongoing Risk to American Firms
Academy of Insurance education
  • June 17 How to Write: Landlords
  • June 19 Can You Hear Me? Yes, I Am Listening!

Insurance News

  • News by Region
  • News by Topic
  • Yesterday

Site Search

Features

  • Insurance Markets Directory
  • Forums
  • A.M. Best Company Ratings
  • Industry Events
  • Agencies For Sale
  • Newswire
  • Insurance Jobs
  • Rankings & Awards

Connect with us

  • Email Newsletters
  • Magazine Subscriptions
  • For Your Website
  • RSS Feeds
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Do Not Sell My Info

Insurance Journal

  • Submit News
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Reprints
  • Link to Us
  • Contact Us

Wells Media Group Network

  • Insurance Journal
  • MyNewMarkets.com
  • Claims Journal
  • Insurance Journal TV
  • Academy of Insurance
  • Carrier Management
© 2025 by Wells Media Group, Inc. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Site Map