Global: Munich Re and Zurich exit net zero climate alliance
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | May 2023
Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) has announced its decision to withdraw from the Net Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA). The move comes after Munich Re announced the same decision, made over antitrust concerns in the past month.
NZIA is a sub-unit of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), a global coalition of leading financial institutions committed to accelerating the decarbonisation of the economy.
Zurich said in a brief statement that its focus will be devoted to supporting customers with their transition. “After establishing a standardised methodology for measuring and disclosing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with insurance and reinsurance underwriting portfolios, we want to focus our resources to support our customers with their transition,” said a Zurich spokesperson.
For Munich Re, the group said that the decision to withdraw from the alliance was to avoid antitrust risks, which are at taking centre stage in the US as republican politicians push back on group efforts linked to ESG issues. “It is more effective to pursue our climate ambition to reduce global warming individually,” said Munich Re CEO Joachim Wenning.
The group, however, pledged its commitment to its own climate targets of 29% reduction in carbon emissions in its investment portfolio by 2025 and net-zero by 2050.
The coalition, founded in 2021, includes around 30 prominent insurance and reinsurance companies which collectively represent more than 10% of the world’s GWP. M