Sydney, Australia (Commonwealth Union)_Coal miners, such as Adani/Bravus, New Hope, and Whitehaven, have publicly lamented their inability to obtain insurance for their damaging actions since 2021. According to Insure Our Future, 45 large insurers have excluded Adani’s Carmichael coal mine from coverage, and 41 big insurers have a coal exclusion policy in place.
As a result, coal miners are establishing a collective insurance business as one means of resolving their predicament. In the run-up to the previous federal election, Adani even requested that Australian taxpayers underwrite such a plan. To note, a mutual insurance company is an insurance firm that is owned by its policyholders. With an insurance mutual, coal miners may continue with the construction and operation of their new coal projects despite their inability to get insurance via regular channels.
However, everyone cannot operate an insurance mutual in Australia; you need a license from the Australian Financial Services (AFS) to do so. Directly getting a license of this type is a difficult and time-consuming process. Delaying the establishment of the mutual might potentially postpone coal projects. On the other hand, the coal miners might locate a partner with an existing license in an effort to expedite their endeavors. Since coal miners might want to work together with an existing AFS licensee, a number of licensees who could run an insurance mutual were contacted. A majority of them said that they would not allow a coal miner mutual to use their license.
However, the Australian Broker Network (ABN) is one of the license holders that has not answered. According to the International Energy Agency, any new coal plant threatens the goal of reaching net zero by 2050 and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Nevertheless, Adani, Whitehaven, and New Hope are all highly involved in multiple new coal projects despite the scientific need.
