Allianz bolsters coal policy

Allianz has announced an update to its coal policy. The insurer had already excluded insurance for coal projects – specifically new coal plants and mines. With its updated policy, from 2023 on, Allianz will no longer provide property and casualty insurance to companies whose business model is based around coal and that do not have a clear phase-out plan.

Allianz’s new policy will affect companies with a coal share of power production of 25% or more and a coal-fired capacity of at least 5GW. The policy will also affect coal-mining companies with a thermal coal share of revenue of 25% or above, or a total annual coal production of 50 million tons or more.

With the new policy, Allianz is catching up to AXA on excluding coal, but has not quite equalled the other insurer, according to environmental non-profit Urgewald:

• Allianz’s threshold of 25% of generated electricity is more ambitious than AXA’s 30%.
• However, AXA has a more stringent threshold for coal-mining activity, with a limit of 20 billion tons of annual coal production.
• AXA will apply its policy from 2022 onward, as opposed to Allianz’s 2023 deadline.
• Allianz has set an end date for coal globally of 2040, while AXA has set an earlier date of 2030 for OECD countries and 2040 for the rest of the world, which is in line with requirements to reach the goals of the Paris climate accord.

“This step Allianz has taken is more proof of the fact that coal-centred business models have no future,” said Regine Richter, energy campaigner at Urgewald. “Two years ago, Allianz excluded project insurance for coal. However, companies with a massive coal share of revenue were still able to get coverage from Allianz. With its updated policy, the insurer is now closing this gaping loophole. While catching up, Allianz is, however, still not leading on coal exclusions.”