UPDATE 19 June 2020
All four of the insurers named in the article last week as underwriters for the Adani Carmichael project are now out!
Aspen has confirmed it will not renew its insurance policies covering the Carmichael coal project. Read the news here.
It is not yet known when Aspen’s insurance policies expire.
UPDATE 12 June 2020
Only 24 hours after being outed as Adani’s insurers, Liberty Mutual and Talanx have said they will refuse any further involvement in the Carmichael coal project!
This is a win for people-power and a demonstration of just how toxic to reputations it is to be caught helping a massive new coal mine get built.
In an article in The Guardian, following up yesterday’s piece in the Sydney Morning Herald, Liberty Mutual stated that it:
“[does] not have any current policies in place for the Adani Carmichael mine project…We will not have any further involvement in the Adani Carmichael mine project. ”
Liberty Mutual
HDI/Talanx made a similar commitment, clarifying that it is not providing insurance for any of Adani’s contractors working on the Carmichael proejct.
“In accordance with our coal policy published in April 2019, we reviewed this project and terminated the insurance cover for this project in October 2019. As a result, there is no insurance cover for the Carmichael project of HDI Global / Talanx.
“And to the best of our knowledge and belief, we have even excluded the Carmichael project from insurance coverage for significant suppliers.”
Talanx
Of the four insurers revealed yesterday, only Aspen Re remains committed to Adani Carmichael coal.
11 June 2020
Well, now we know who they are. Thanks to a leak from an employee of Adani’s insurance broker Marsh, we know that Liberty Mutual, HDI/Talanx and Aspen Re have been providing insurance for construction of the disastrous Adani Carmichael coal project.
See today’s story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
While Australia’s worst ever bushfire season was taking hold, these companies were doing a dirty deal with Marsh and Adani, allowing construction of the railway line that will link the coal mine to Abbot Point port.
Take action: Fill out the form to let these companies know we’re onto them, and we won’t let up until they walk away from Adani’s climate-destroying project.
Insurance is essential for a project the size of Carmichael, and Adani has been having trouble lining it up with over a dozen of the world’s biggest insurers refusing to go near it. Last year, an insurance deal with Canopius and Axis Capital fell apart after we exposed it with the help of our supporters.
The leaked information shows that the insurance policies are for “early works” – that is, not for the full construction of the mine and rail. While we don’t have the full picture, it is likely that Adani still doesn’t have all the insurance it needs to build the Carmichael coal mine and rail project.
Our message to Liberty Mutual, HDI, Aspen and Marsh is to join their competitors and walk away from Adani before they do irreparable damage to their reputations.
The profits of the insurance industry are being smashed by climate change-fueled extreme weather. It isn’t in any insurance company’s interest to worsen global warming.
Insurers using loopholes in their own policies to insure Adani
Liberty Mutual and HDI need to use loopholes in their own coal policies in order to provide Adani with insurance!
In December 2019, Liberty Mutual adopted a new coal policy that saw it commit to ‘No longer accept underwriting risk for companies where more than 25 percent of their exposure arises from the extraction and/or production of energy from thermal coal’.
Currently, while building its climate wrecking mine and rail line, Adani Mining has zero revenues from coal. However, once the Adani mine is operational and construction of the railway line is complete, Adani Mining will be deriving 100% of profits from the mining of thermal coal – thereby making it uninsurable under Liberty Mutual’s policy.
In the media article, Liberty Mutual claims its policy with the Carmichael project has expired, but while it has already committed to not insure the operational phase of the mine (in line with its weak coal policy), it is yet to commit to no more insurance for the construction phase.
HDI (a subsidiary of Talanx) announced in 2019 that ‘in principle’ they will not insure new coal power stations and new coal mines. However, this technically does not rule out insurance for any associated infrastructure for coal projects. This means it could still provide insurance for Adani’s Carmichael rail line and any other coal related infrastructure on any coal project in the world, even if, as in the case of Carmichael, that infrastructure is essential for the viability of a new thermal coal mine.
In the Sydney Morning Herald article HDI says it doesn’t cover the project “directly” but it is not ruling out policies covering Adani’s major construction contractors.
Marsh staff leak shows morale impacted by Adani work
Market Forces’ survey of Marsh and Mercer staff shows more than four out of five employees surveyed want Marsh to stop its work for Adani and phase out all brokering of insurance for fossil fuels. Marsh’s management refusing to engage with the strong views of its employees is resulting in leaks and anger. This conflict between upper management and employees is something that has been seen across a number of companies that have done work for the Adani Carmichael project.
XL also named as Adani insurer
The subsidiary of AXA is also named as an Adani insurer in the article. Unlike the other insurers, AXA has made a public commitment to not sign any new insurance deals with Adani.
Take action: Contact Adani’s insurance broker Marsh to ask it to refuse to continue its services for the disastrous Carmichael coal project.