Activist Group Calling for Immediate Halt to Insuring Fossil Fuels

A letter to the world’s insurance companies from a climate activist group calls on the industry to immediately stop insuring companies and projects that promote the expansion of coal, oil and gas, and phase out all insurance services for fossil fuel companies that aren’t working to reduce global warming to 1.5ºC in the next two years.

The letter from Insure Our Future also calls for insurers to divest all assets from coal, oil, and gas companies that are not aligned with “a credible 1.5ºC pathway.” That includes assets managed for third parties.

Many insurers in recent years have adopted policies to divest assets from fossil fuels and increasingly many of those policies have helped steer the companies away from underwriting new projects. However, “overall the industry has failed to align its business with the scientific consensus on what is required to limit global warming to 1.5°C,” the letter states.

The Insure Our Future campaign letter calls for the following from insurers:

1. Immediately stop insuring new and expanded coal, oil and gas projects.
2. Immediately stop insuring new customers from the fossil fuel sector not aligned with a 1.5°C pathway, stop offering services that support the expansion of fossil fuel production, and phase out all insurance services for existing fossil fuel companies not aligned with such a 1.5°C pathway in two years.
3. Immediately divest all assets from coal, oil, and gas companies not aligned with a credible 1.5°C pathway.
4. Adopt binding targets for reducing insured emissions that are transparent, comprehensive and aligned with a credible 1.5°C pathway by July 2023.
5. Immediately adopt robust due diligence and verification mechanisms to ensure clients observe all human rights, including requiring them to obtain and document the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of impacted Indigenous Peoples as spelled out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
6. Immediately bring stewardship activities, membership of trade associations and public positions as a shareholder and corporate citizen in line with a credible 1.5°C.

Vanuatu

The Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu this week won a historic vote at the United Nations, which calls on the world’s highest court to establish nations’ obligations to address climate change.

The vote, which also calls for consequences for scofflaw nations, was to give some relief to Vanuatu, a nation that has long faced disproportionate impacts of rising seas and intensifying storms, CNN is reporting.

The resolution was backed by more than 130 countries, with the U.S. and China neither expressing support nor objecting.

This is the first time the highest international court is called on to address the climate crisis, and the landmark decision is “essential,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said in his remarks to the assembly, according to the CNN article. “Climate justice is both a moral imperative and a prerequisite for effective global climate action.”

Vanuatu is under a six-month-long state of emergency after a pair of Category 4 cyclones struck the country within 48 hours during the first week of March, the article notes.

Britain

Britain is “strikingly unprepared” for climate change, as the nation faces disruptions to energy, food supplies, as well as transportation and communications infrastructure if it fails to adapt fast, an independent adviser on climate policy warned.

A Bloomberg article on Insurance Journal this week reports on the Climate Change Committee’s biennial review of the government’s efforts.

Temperatures of 40°C were recorded in Britain last summer for the first time, which was part of a period of hot, dry weather that resulted in wildfires, power outages and drought, according to the Bloomberg article.

“There is no option but to adapt to the change in the climate,” Chris Stark, who heads the independent body to advise the UK government on preparing for climate change, told Bloomberg. “The question is only whether we do that well by doing it early, or wait until later when it will cost more, with greater disruption and greater problems.”

The report, which also warned power outages that could lead to communications, water supply and health service disruptions, indicated that plans to reach net zero emissions by 2050 would be more difficult to achieve if the country fails to adapt, the article states.

Climate Workforce

A skilled “climate workforce” will be a key part of responding to the challenges of climate change, a new study asserts.

The American Meteorological Society Policy Program study outlines the importance of climate knowledge, which is the AMS says is becoming embedded in a large portion of the workforce.

The stated purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of future workforce needs in Earth system observations, science and services.

The report proposes categories relating climate knowledge to a range of workforce roles, and it finds that familiarity with interdisciplinary techniques to engage the community and data management skills are likely to be highly beneficial for professional success.

The study was based on AMS Policy Program workshops held in 2022, which included academics, government officials and the private sector.

“Meeting the challenges of rapid global environmental change will take a transformation of the workforce,” said Paul Higgins, director of the AMS Policy Program. “The changes in climate that people are causing are larger and faster than any humanity is known to have endured since we went from hunting and gathering to agriculture.”

The AMS has a membership of more than 12,000 professionals, students, and weather enthusiasts.

Past columns:

• Poll: Almost Half the Nation Thinks Climate Change is Here and Now
• California Climate Bills Requiring Broad Disclosures Have National Implications
• S. EPA Seeking to Focus on Climate Mitigation
• Activists Say They’ll Continue to Call out Liberty Mutual for Fossil Fuels
• NASA: U.S. Coastlines Could Experience a Foot of Sea Level Rise Within 30 Years

Topics Energy Oil Gas