5 October 2021
Hamilton’s 116-word statement should be an example to all other insurers of what an ESG (environment, social, governance) policy should NOT look like.
Since mid 2020, 28 Lloyd’s of London insurers have answered the call of the #StopAdani campaign and ruled out insuring the disastrous Adani Carmichael thermal coal project, including the top 10 biggest syndicates.
In total, 40 major insurance companies have now publicly ruled out providing insurance for the climate-destroying Carmichael coal mine and rail line, including five of Adani Carmichael’s existing insurers at Lloyd’s, namely, Aspen, Apollo, Brit, Tokio Marine Kiln and Ascot which have all ruled out renewing their insurance policies.
Although Adani’s insurance options in the Lloyd’s marketplace are rapidly shrinking, one of the few laggards at Lloyd’s still willing to insure the Adani Carmichael project is Bermuda-headquartered Hamilton Insurance Group.
Market Forces first met with Hamilton Insurance in September 2020 to request that it take a position on Adani Carmichael. Hamilton pleaded for time and provided us with the following statement: “Hamilton is completing the integration of businesses acquired during a deal with Liberty Mutual. Once we finalize our integration, which is expected to be in mid 2021, we will review our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles to ensure they reflect the underwriting guidelines of our expanded enterprise.”
Last week, 12 months later, Hamilton finally released its ESG statement. Unfortunately, the 116-word motherhood statement is nothing but a stunningly vague, detail-free and meaningless concoction of words that cannot be seriously called an ESG statement. Obviously there is not a clue as to what Hamilton’s position on insuring a massive new thermal coal mine would be.
In 2021, with climate change-fueled extreme weather destroying lives and livelihoods all over the world, such a poor attempt at greenwashing, without taking any concrete steps, is deplorable. Hamilton’s ESG statement somehow manages to be even worse than Marsh’s 2020 ESG debacle. It is also not even remotely aligned with Lloyd’s own inadequate climate policy released in December 2020. This is unacceptable.
Hamilton’s statement should be an example for all other insurers of exactly what NOT to do.
If Hamilton wants its approach to ESG taken seriously, then it’s going to need a major overhaul. Given it’s abundantly clear there’s no room to expand the fossil fuel industry to achieve the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal or net-zero emissions by 2050, Hamilton must include an immediate end to any (re)insurance for new coal and tar sands projects. It must also phase out exposure to oil and gas in line with the Paris Agreement.
Sorry Hamilton, try again.
TAKE ACTION
Unfortunately, some Lloyd’s insurers have blocked our email actions coming through the Market Forces website thinking that would silence us, but we have now created a workaround to make sure that your email will still reach them.
Make sure you’re signed-in to your email program and then use this form to tell the remaining Lloyd’s insurers that insuring Carmichael coal is terrible for the climate, the Great Barrier Reef, water supplies, biodiversity and their reputations!