TOKYO, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. said Thursday it will in principle stop underwriting new insurance policies or providing new loans for coal mine development projects from October, making it the first Japanese nonlife insurer to do so.
Fuel coal mainly used for electricity generation will become the target of the move, rather than the raw coal for iron and steel, therefore only coal-fired power plants will be affected by the measures.
However, the insurer also said it will continue with existing cases and may still provide insurance for coal mine development projects that produce coal for power plants that can curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Tokio Marine said it has decided on the policy based on European and U.S. measures to divest from coal mine development aiming to reduce carbon emissions.
Though there are already nonlife insurers having halted underwriting insurance policies for new coal-fired power plants in Japan, Tokio Marine is the first one to move forward and stop investment in coal mine development.
Similarly, Japanese financial institutions such as Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. have also announced their policy of divesting from coal-fired power plant projects. Enditem