New Global Warming and Climate Change Findings Has Been Reported by Investigators at Technical University Munich (TU Munich) (Do Private German Health Insurers Invest Their Capital Reserves of Euro353 Billion According To Environmental, Social …): Global Warming and Climate Change

2022 JAN 04 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators discuss new findings in Global Warming and Climate Change. According to news reporting originating in Munich, Germany, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “To prevent the planet from catastrophic global warming a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to net zero is required. Thus, divestment from fossil fuels must be a strategic interest for health insurers.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Technical University Munich (TU Munich), “The aim of this study was to analyse the implementation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in German private health insurers’ investments. In 2019 a survey about ESG strategies was sent to German private health insurance companies. The survey evaluated investment strategies and thresholds for the exclusion of sectors and business practices, as well as company strategies for sustainable business development. Given their business reports, German private health insurers manage assets of more than (sic)350 billion. 11 of 40 insurance companies provided quantitative data, 10 refused to answer. According to quantitative data, (sic)66 billion of assets is managed according to any ESG criteria; this equals an average of 76% of each company’s bonds. None of these insurers excluded the production and sale of fossil fuels. All excluded coal mining but only at high thresholds. For (sic)226 billion, no data were provided. The findings are in contrast to the expected intrinsic economic interest of the insurers to stop global warming and improve public health. The majority of assets are managed in a highly problematic manner, especially the absence of capital allocated in fields contrary to medical ethics (eg, firearms, armour) cannot be presumed.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Lack of transparency is a major problem that limits clients in choosing the insurer who has the most advanced ESG criteria.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Do Private German Health Insurers Invest Their Capital Reserves of Euro353 Billion According To Environmental, Social and Governance Criteria? Journal of Medical Ethics, 2021;47(12). Journal of Medical Ethics can be contacted at: Bmj Publishing Group, British Med Assoc House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JR, England. (BMJ Publishing Group - http://group.bmj.com/; Journal of Medical Ethics - http://jme.bmj.com/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Frederick Schneider, Technical University Munich (TU Munich), Tum Sch Med, Dept. of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Munich, Germany. Additional authors for this research include Gerhard Schneider, Christian M. Schulz, Julia Gogolewska, Klaus-Michael Ahrend, Gerrit Hohendorf and Reinhard Busse.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-106381. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)