Munich Re, one of Europe’s largest insurance companies, and the world’s biggest reinsurer, announced that it has chosen to withdraw from a series of climate-focused industry coalitions, including the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA), the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAM), Climate Action 100+ (CA100+) and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), citing legal and regulatory pressures and climate disclosure complexity.
Despite exiting the climate groups, however, the firm reiterated that “climate protection remains an urgent priority for Munich Re,” and that it will independently “continue to pursue our goal of contributing to the achievement of the Paris climate targets.”
The announcement marks the latest in a series of departures of financial companies from climate coalitions, following years of pressure on participants in the groups from a vocal anti-ESG movement, particularly by Republican politicians in the U.S., which has rapidly picked up pace since the election of Donald Trump in the U.S. Earlier this year, after the exit of BlackRock, NZAM announced that it will suspend its primary activities, as it moves to adapt to a changing political and regulatory environment. A related coalition, the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), has seen all major U.S. and Canadian banks depart as well.
Munich Re was among the first major institutions to withdraw from one of the net zero initiatives, announcing in 2023 that it had pulled out of the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), citing antitrust risk.
In a statement announcing its new decision, Munich Re said that the move was made amongst “an increasing ambiguity in assessing private initiatives under the legal and regulatory regimes across various jurisdictions.” The firm added that climate-related disclosures and other related administrative requirements have become very complex, and are disproportionate to the impact achieved in terms of climate protection.
Munich Re added:
“Against this backdrop, Munich Re in future will independently contribute to climate protection. We are convinced that we will be able to pursue our climate targets in a more focused and targeted manner on our own and simultaneously avoid non regulatory prescribed reporting requirements and legal uncertainty.”
Munich Re’s ambition to reduce GHG emissions from its insurance business and investment portfolio to net zero by 2050 remains on the company’s website, and the company revealed that it has achieved or exceeded its interim 2025 climate targets, which included a goal to reduce GHG emissions related to its investment portfolio by 29% by 2025, on a 2019 basis.
Munich Re added that it will introduce new climate goals later this year, following the achievement of its 2025 targets.
In a statement provided to ESG Today following Munich Re’s announcement, an NZAOA spokesperson said:
“Munich Re informed the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) of its decision to withdraw, emphasising that its climate commitments, aligned with the Alliance’s requirements and Target-Setting Protocol, remain unchanged. We want to take this opportunity to thank Munich Re for the productive and constructive partnership we’ve shared over the past five years. NZAOA membership is entirely voluntary, and each member retains the independence to make decisions that best align with their portfolios and objectives.”
