Stop insuring carbon projects 'immediately', NGOs tell CEOs

A group of climate activists has called on 30 insurance company CEOs to "immediately" stop underwriting new fossil fuel projects in the wake of a stark climate warning from U.N. scientists, a letter, seen by Reuters, showed.

Insure our Future, a global consortium of activists, said it sent the letter dated March 21 to companies including Munich Re (MUVGn.DE), Zurich Insurance (ZURN.S) and AXA (AXAF.PA).

The six-page letter, signed by 23 climate groups, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), said the insurance industry had failed to do enough to meet the world's climate goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Other demands included stopping insurance for new fossil fuel customers not aligned with the goal, and adopting binding targets to reduce insured emissions by July 2023.

"Insurers, as society's risk managers, have a special responsibility to act and the power to drive change: without insurance most new fossil fuel projects cannot go ahead and existing ones cannot continue to operate," it read.

The letter follows last week's warning from U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who said the "climate time bomb is ticking" and urged rich countries to cut emissions sooner after a new assessment from scientists said there was little time to lose in tackling climate change.