Germany’s large insurance companies finance Poland’s coal industry

The two major German insurance companies Allianz and Munich Re have until now often been viewed as “being in the camp of climate activists”, but a study by NGO Unfriend Coal now suggests both companies are quite active in insuring Poland’s coal industry, Thomas Magenheim writes in Frankfurter Rundschau. “The self-proclaimed climate activist Allianz supports the largest coal expansion in Europe,” says Regine Richter of German NGO Urgewald. She says reinsurer Munich Re is “schizophrenic” for issuing many studies that highlight climate change’s negative consequences but simultaneously issuing insurance certificates for the Polish coal industry. The insurers do not deny their activities, but Allianz points to the 4.6 billion euros it has so far invested in renewable energy, which bears proof of its climate action.

Find the article in German here and the Unfriend Coal study in English here.

Also read the CLEW article Private climate finance under scrutiny on eve of Paris summit.