Zurich, a global multi-line insurance company, has confirmed its withdrawal from the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), citing a desire to focus its resources to support its customers with their transition.
The NZIA is a group of 30 insurers and reinsurers representing around 15% of world premium volume globally. The aim is to transition their underwriting portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Today, however, large insurance carrier Zurich has announced its decision to withdraw from the alliance, and this comes just days after Munich Re, one for the world’s largest reinsurance companies, revealed its discontinuation of its membership in the NZIA.
“After establishing a standardized methodology for measuring and disclosing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated to insurance and reinsurance underwriting portfolios, we want to focus our resources to support our customers with their transition,” reads the statement from Zurich on its decision to withdraw.
“We continue to remain fully committed to our sustainability ambitions and to supporting the net-zero transition,” the firm added.
The NZIA was launched by eight global re/insurers at the G20 Climate Summit in Venice in July 2021, described at the time as a “historic commitment” by insurers and reinsurers.
Both Zurich and Munich Re were among the eight market players that launched the alliance, and while it’s grown to around 30 participants, it’s far from ideal that two of the original companies have decided to leave.
