Climate change: Why backing fossil fuel companies is increasingly toxic

Climate group consortium Insure our Future has called on 30 leading insurance companies to stop insuring fossil fuel projects “immediately”. Companies that received the six-page letter include Zurich Insurance, Munich Re and AXA. Stating that the insurance industry, as “society’s risk managers”, has failed to do its part to limit global warming to 1.5C, Insure our Future also asked that the recipients adopt binding targets to reduce insured emissions by July 2023, and stop insurance for new fossil fuel customers that fail to align with the goal. 

At the same time, the first US insurance firm to do so has committed to limit its underwriting of oil and gas extraction projects. Chubb’s new policies will restrict insurance for fossil fuel extraction, based on emissions criteria. There is speculation that Hartford and Travelers will follow suit at their upcoming annual shareholder meetings. 

An investigator for a UN fact-finding mission has said that the EU and its member states have enabled human rights abuses against migrants in Libya. The statement was made after the presentation of a report that found human rights abuses had occurred involving migrants in detention centres. The investigator stated that the EU has indirectly supported these crimes by supporting and training the Libyan coastguard, and funding Libyan border management programmes via the Italian government. Both of these Libyan bodies have been responsible for returning migrants repeatedly to detention centres. 

The report stated that “trafficking, enslavement, forced labour, imprisonment, extortion and smuggling of vulnerable migrants generated significant revenue for individuals, groups and state institutions” in Libya. The findings have now been presented to the UN Human Rights Council. The fact-finding mission will also be passing any evidence crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court.

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures has unveiled the final draft of its framework for nature-related risk and impact disclosure. The draft provides new sectoral guidance, and a recommended set of disclosure metrics. It also translates the concept of scope 1,2, and 3 emissions reporting to address “direct”, “upstream”, “downstream” and “financed” nature-related impacts. 

This fourth and final draft aims to align nature and biodiversity-related disclosure with the Taskforce on Climate Financial Disclosures framework, enabling companies to integrate climate and nature reporting. It is hoped that the new TNFD will be able to replicate the success of the TCFD guidelines, which have provided an increasingly standardised approach for the thousands of companies and regulatory bodies that have incorporated them. After a consultation period, the TNFD’s final recommendations and pilot testing results will be published in September 2023.

A deal between Germany and the European commission has un-blocked the road to phasing out polluting vehicles by 2035. The EC has agreed to produce extra technical legislation that will allow for cars running on e-fuels, a synthetic greener alternative to petrol that does not emit CO2. This means that when EU countries do approve the 2035 phaseout law, the commission must create a new EU vehicle category for cars that can only run on carbon-neutral fuels. The exemption has been criticised by campaigners, who view e-fuels as an expensive distraction from the electric transformation already underway in Europe.