TOKYO – Tokio Marine Holdings, Japan’s largest insurer by market value, is withdrawing from the Net Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), the latest in a wave of defections from the world’s biggest climate alliance for insurers.

The company declined to give a reason for its withdrawal. A spokesman said Tokio Marine will continue to consider measures to realise a decarbonised society such as the use of renewable energy and emphasised that it will keep a close eye on social and environmental causes. 

Allianz SE, Axa SA, Scor SE and Japan’s Sompo Holdings left the NZIA last week, following earlier defections by several founding members including Munich Re.

The alliance is a sub-group of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, known as Gfanz, a coalition of global financial institutions “committed to accelerating the decarbonisation of the economy”.

Insurance companies have been explicitly targeted by some Republicans in the United States, who say the group could be violating antitrust laws by working together to reduce clients’ carbon emissions.

This month, 23 US state attorneys-general told NZIA members that the group’s targets and requirements appeared to violate both federal and state antitrust laws.

They gave insurers a month to respond in a May 15 letter – the latest salvo from the Republicans against financial institutions factoring environmental, social and governance-related factors into their decision-making.

Convened by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2021, the group at its peak represented about 15 per cent of global insurance premiums. The mass defections have posed an existential question for NZIA.

The political attacks are interfering with insurers’ independent efforts to price climate risk, which will harm policyholders, main street investors and local economies, a Gfanz spokesman said. 

Mr Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, is co-chair of Gfanz together with former Bank of England governor Mark Carney. BLOOMBERG/REUTERS