Bermudian insurance and reinsurance firm AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has dropped its bid to provide coverage for the controversial Carmichael coal mine project in Australia, according to sources at Reuters.
The publication said that sources close to the company confirmed that AXIS had withdrawn its quotes for insurance of the mine’s railway.
It is also rumoured that the company is set to publish a formal policy to cut its exposure to coal more broadly in the coming weeks.
This move would make AXIS the latest company in a growing list of re/insurers to rule out support for the Adani Group’s Carmichael mine, which has faced major resistance from prominent environmental organisations.
Adani has already been forced to self-finance the $1.5 billion Carmichael mine project after 37 global financial institutions, including all of Australia’s major banks, rejected any involvement.
Opponents of the mine claim that it will have severe climate, social and environmental impacts, as it is expected to produce 4.6 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions over its lifetime, equivalent to more than eight years of Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.
They also argue that the project’s rail line threatens areas of the Great Barrier Reef and imposes on the lands of some indigenous peoples.
Several large re/insurers – including AXA, SCOR, FM Global, QBE and Suncorp – have explicitly said they will not back the Carmichael project.
Many others – such as Allianz, Munich Re, Swiss Re, Zurich and Generali – have existing climate policies in place that exclude support for the mine.
