(Reuters) — Three more insurers including Tokio Marine have left a U.N.-backed climate alliance with a net zero, leaving the group with about half the number of members it counted two months ago as insurers are spooked by U.S. political pressure.
Some Republican politicians have launched a campaign against financial institutions that cooperate to try to reduce carbon emissions, and a group of Republican attorneys general has turned the spotlight on insurance companies, accusing them of potentially violating antitrust laws.
Japanese insurance company Tokio Marine is no longer listed as a member on the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance website. A Tokio Marine spokesperson was not immediately available for comment outside Japanese business hours.
MS&AD Insurance Group, another Japanese company, said in a statement on Monday that it is leaving less than a year after joining. It said it would “continue our journey to achieve Net-Zero by 2050 with our stakeholders.”
;Spain-based Grupo Catalana Occidente said in a statement that it is withdrawing and that it believes it can “continue the path of advancing our sustainability goals individually, outside of the alliance.” It has not elaborated on its reasons for leaving.
The company added that NZIA had helped members define their emissions pathway and that it would set “progressive and science-based targets that will enable it to contribute to climate neutrality.”
An NZIA spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The alliance, which was formed in 2019 to get insurers to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their emissions portfolios to net zero by 2050, is now down to 17 members, according to its website, down from the 28 it had two weeks ago and 30 at the end of March.
Legal experts say it would be difficult to sue insurers on antitrust grounds, but wary international insurers are worried about being drawn into a fight with US Republicans.
Last week NZIA lost at least eight members including Spain’s Mapfre, France’s Axa – which chaired the alliance – and Japan’s Sompo.
The remaining members, which include Britain’s Aviva, Italy’s Generali and France’s Credit Agricole Assurances, will hold talks this week to decide whether and how the alliance can continue given that so many members have quit, sources familiar with the discussions said.
NZIA is one of several industry climate alliances that exist under the UN-backed Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero umbrella group. GFANZ was launched in 2021 ahead of the UN climate summit, COP26, in Glasgow.
A GFANZ spokesperson said on Friday that “political attacks” were damaging insurers’ independent efforts to price climate risks.
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