Lloyd’s deserts coal for climate action

Lloyd’s of London has stated that it has followed in the path of other insurance companies and will stop financing coal power projects in support of climate action starting in April.

The coal exclusion is part of its responsible investment strategy, but the precise definition of what constitutes a coal company and the criteria of the divestment- such as the threshold of revenue from coal, will be decided within the next months.

Inga Beale, Lloyd’s of London CEO, said: “That means that in the areas of our portfolio where we can directly influence investment decisions we will avoid investing in companies that are involved mainly in coal.”

The divestment will apply to assets held in the company’s segregated portfolios. This means that Lloyd’s can only apply the criteria to 75 percent of the central fund’s investments.

France’s AXA insurance giant was among the first European companies to act against climate change. In 2015, AXA announced a divestment of EUR500 million from the coal industry- a figure which by the end of 2017 had reached EUR2.4 billion.

According to a report from Unfriend Coal Network, an international coalition of businesses and environmental organisations, 15 insurance companies have fully or partially cut investment in the coal industry of which almost all of them are located in Europe.