QBE and Sompo Holidngs have both announced their resignation as member organizations from the Net Zero Insurance Alliance.
This news takes the total coming out today from the NZIA to nine major players in insurance and reinsurance.
The exits of QBE and Sompo Holdings come shortly after two other major companies, namely AXA and Allianz, announced their exit from NZIA.
Scor also announced its exit from the alliance earlier this week.
QBE said in a statement, “We will continue to work with our stakeholders to deliver on our broader sustainability strategy.”
Sompo Holdings, the parent of Sompo insurance group and international re/insurer Sompo International, did not make a statement on its exit, but it was widely reported.
Earlier this week, John Neal the Chief Executive of Lloyd’s of London spoke to Reuters urging the global climate alliance for insurers to make its membership rules less prescriptive or risk breaking up. , after political pressure from some US states caused the companies to leave.
With several major re/insurers withdrawing from the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has stated that there is a “fundamental and urgent” need for global collaboration. insurance industry to successfully address the climate emergency.
Also this week, reinsurance giant Swiss Re became another to withdraw from the NZIA, which was called for by the UNEP Finance Initiative’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) at the G20 Climate Summit in Venice in 2021.
Munich Re, Zurich Insurance and Hannover Re have already exited.
This week saw some of the largest re/insurers withdraw from the alliance.
The estimated reasons for this are that many companies are withdrawing now so that they are not exposed to anti-trust claims.
Meanwhile, another reason for this may be due to the fear of losing business in the US, if they continue to push the net-zero agenda while the lawmakers on the Republican side are pushing back on ESG.
