A global insurers’ alliance aimed at tackling climate change has relaunched in pared-down form after its predecessor closed amid a flight of members following legal threats.
The Net Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) — which included significant marine insurers — was disbanded on Thursday after coming under fire from Republican-run states in the US for alleged anti-competitive activity.
A new body started work in its place, the United Nations-backed Forum for Insurance Transition to Net Zero (FIT), which aims to encourage the sector to promote net-zero projects.
The new body launched with 19 insurers and reinsurers including Beazley and Fidelis that were part of the former set-up.
Former members of NZIA including Allianz, AXA, Swiss Re, Munich Re and Zurich Insurance Group, were not part of the initial start-up group, according to a list provided by the UN Environment Programme.
“It is expected that more organisations worldwide will join the FIT in the coming months as it becomes fully operational,” the UN body said.
Insurers are regulated at the state level in the US where Republican officials hostile to the decarbonisation agenda were able to apply pressure.
Members of the now-defunct NZIA set goals to back their climate change commitments.
Climate change goals derailed
But the target-setting was scrapped following the campaign by Republican opponents, in part over concerns that insurance would be withheld from oil and gas projects.
The changes failed to re-attract former members, which dropped by nearly 50% from around 30 members in early 2023.
The marine insurance industry has its own collective decarbonisation initiative, the Poseidon Principles for Marine Insurance.
The 10 members, including Gard, AXA and Skuld, have committed to align their portfolios of covered vessels with the decarbonisation goals of the International Maritime Organization. The IMO has committed to a zero-emission goal for the global fleet in or around 2050.
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