European insurers covering nearly a third of US coal mines
Although AIG remains the biggest carrier, European insurers, including Lloyd’s, Zurich and Swiss Re, are underwriting nearly a third of the US’s biggest coal mines, with some “violating” or finding “loopholes” in their ESG criteria to maintain cover, according to campaign group Insure Our Future.
A new report from the group says that Lloyd’s of London, Zurich and Swiss Re are among the top ten insurers of the 25 biggest US mines, which produced more than 60% of the country’s coal in 2022. Together they underwrite 13 mines producing 30.7% of national output.
AIG is the biggest underwriter of the mines, according to the data, insuring seven mines producing 167 million short tons in 2022, or 28.1% of national US output.
Lloyd’s of London comes second. Lloyd’s insurers underwrite ten mines producing 135 million short tons, or 22.8% of output.
Insure Our Future says Lloyd’s has committed to leading the market to a net-zero underwriting position but does not mandate or restrict the underwriting policies of its market members.
It says Zurich insures two mines producing 4.9% of US output and Swiss Re insures one mine producing 3% of output. Both carriers have been leaders in introducing restrictions on insuring coal and were founder members of the Net Zero Insurance Alliance, but have recently left under threat of anti-trust action.
According to Insure Our Future, 45 major insurers have adopted policies restricting coal underwriting in recent years. However, the report finds that leading insurers, including those from Europe, are “exploiting loopholes or violating their own policies to continue underwriting coal mines”.
The report says Swiss Re is among those insurers violating their own coal restriction policies.
“Swiss Re’s policy states that it will not insure companies earning more than 30% of revenue from coal, and yet 90% of the revenue earned by the Buckskin Mining Company, owners of the Swiss Re-insured Buckskin Mine, comes from coal,” it says.
Others insurers, including Zurich, are exploiting policy loopholes to allow them to continue insuring major metallurgical coal mines, Insure Our Future continues.
“Metallurgical coal, used for making steel and a significant source of carbon dioxide, is a blind spot in many restriction policies which only refer to thermal coal. Zurich’s ongoing insurance of metallurgical coal mines does not directly violate its own policy, but stands in contradiction to its stated net-zero commitments,” it says.
Mary Sweeters, senior strategist of the Insure Our Future campaign, said: “Insurers are publicly committing to net-zero emissions and restrictive fossil fuel policies, yet behind closed doors they continue to underwrite dirty fossil fuel projects, violating their own policies or exploiting loopholes. They are fuelling the climate crisis and profiting from it, while greenwashing their business with empty promises.”
Insure Our Future said its figures are based on public record requests for insurance certificates.
The insurers are listed below, alongside the total production for which they are responsible.
| Insurer*
|
Production (short tons) | Mine Count
|
| AIG | 167,428,662 | 7 |
| Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London | 135,403,277 | 10 |
| Starr | 103,216,997 | 9 |
| Skyward Specialty | 66,914,669 | 5 |
| James River | 36,291,137 | 3 |
| Westfield | 34,120,579 | 2 |
| Argo Group | 31,208,980 | 4 |
| Zurich | 29,320,227 | 2 |
| AXA | 20,948,513 | 2 |
| Swiss Re | 18,233,969 | 1 |
| Old Republic | 18,233,969 | 1 |
| AEGIS | 9,334,585 | 1 |
| Berkshire Hathaway | 8,312,644 | 1 |
| Aspen | 7,431,273 | 1 |
| Liberty Mutual | 7,431,273 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Financial | 7,431,273 | 1 |
