Adani will lose the support of a current insurer after Lloyd’s of London Insurer Ascot announced it would not renew an existing insurance policy for the Carmichael Mine and Rail Project when it expires in September 2021.

As insurers rapidly move to rule out support for Adani’s coal project, a new submission to a government inquiry from the Queensland Resources Council has just been published, claiming insurance is fast becoming unattainable for coal companies and their supply chains.

Ascot is the fifth Lloyd's of London insurer to commit to not renewing current insurance policies for Adani’s Carmichael mine and the 38th insurance company to refuse to underwrite the controversial coal project. 

Adani’s loss of another current insurer comes as an Australian federal government inquiry, pushed by pro-coal conservative backbench MPs, gets underway with public hearings scheduled for June 25. The inquiry is scrutinising insurers and banks withdrawal of support for fossil fuel projects. In a submission made last month Adani’s largest contractor BMD told the inquiry it had failed to find any insurer to underwrite its work for Adani.

In a new submission made by the Queensland Resources Council last week the council states: The winds of change in financial markets are fast strengthening into a howling cyclone for Queensland’s export industries. The rapid implementation of policies aimed at decarbonising global investment and insurance portfolios has had a cumulative impact in Queensland. The scope, scale and fervour with which these financial changes are being pursued is unprecedented.   

The QRC submission highlighted survey data collected from its members. Survey responses indicated that the cost of securing insurance, including labour, has increased between 90 and 120% over the past two year and many responses indicated increases of several hundred percent: “Initially, our same insurance cover was going to cost 400% more – but when we challenged that quote, the cost was reduced to a 300% increase.”

Pablo Brait, campaigner from Market Forces says: “The insurance industry is finally turning its back on Adani’s climate wrecking coal mine. Fossil fuels have no future in a world moving towards net zero emissions.”

“Adani has now lost a fifth existing Lloyd's insurer for its climate-wrecking Carmichael coal project and 38 major insurers in total have ruled out underwriting it. No insurer that considers itself responsible can justify supporting a massive new thermal coal project in 2021. Lloyd's of London now needs to clear the air and finally ban insurance for Adani from its marketplace.” 

"With more and more insurers turning their backs on Adani’s climate wrecking coal project, Adani has an obligation to explain to its shareholders and business partners how it will insure the risky Carmichael coal project for the decades it intends to run it.” 

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