Insurer walks away from Adani’s Carmichael coal mine

In January, the conglomerate was the subject of a damaging report by US-based boutique investment firm Hindenburg Research “Adani Group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History” , which wiped about $US74 billion from the value of the group’s listed companies within a week. The group survived the financial onslaught and has since recovered some of its value.

Insurers and brokers negotiate coverage for companies, often a prerequisite if they want financial backing or loans for their operations. Insurers have become targets for groups wanting to disrupt environmentally damaging operations.

Within the past two years, the world’s biggest broker, Marsh McLennan, stopped arranging insurance for Adani and another top-10 global broker Lockton broke off talks with the group after pressure from campaigners and its own staff. Banks such as BNY Mellon and China’s ICBC have also cut ties with or ruled out financing its Australian mine.

The Albanese government has tightened the safeguard mechanism to cut emissions by Australia’s big carbon polluters and legislated a 43 per cent reduction in emissions from 2005 levels by 2030, but it has resisted pressure from the Greens for a moratorium on new fossil fuel projects.

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