Environmental groups have welcomed the news that UK and Bermuda based specialty insurer Convex has ruled out insuring a controversial Australian mining project.

In a statement Convex said it will not participate on any insurance coverage for Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal mine in Australia and any new thermal coal mine and associated infrastructure.

It follows a period of pressure climate groups to rule out covering the mine which intensified in the final quarter of 2021.

It its statement confirming it “will not insure the construction or operation of any new thermal coal mine and/or its dedicated infrastructure,” the underwriter said the lack of clarity regarding its position on the Adani coal project was a reputational threat.

Edoardo Riario Sforza, a campaigner with Market Forces, said: “Convex’s decision to stop insuring new thermal coal mines and their associated infrastructure means it has finally ruled out insurance for Adani’s disastrous Carmichael coal project in Australia.”

“Every insurance company on Earth should be running a mile from Adani’s climate-wrecking coal mine. The fact there are now 43 major insurers on the public record saying they won’t touch the Carmichael project demonstrates the reputational risk any company associated with it faces.”

Adani’s Carmichael coal project has been the subject of an intense campaign by climate groups and has seen significant numbers of insurers and financiers publicly said they will not support new thermal coal mines due to their contribution to climate change. Convex is the 43rd insurer to rule out underwriting of Adani’s planned mine that will produce 4.6 billion tonnes of carbon pollution and open the largest new coal basin in the world, the Galilee Basin in central Queensland. In total, 108 major companies have publicly rejected Carmichael.

However, Sforza said the efforts to encourage more underwriters to refuse to cover the project will continue.

“Now all eyes are on Helvetia Group and Lloyd’s of London,” he said. “Helvetia needs to clarify its current and intended future relationship to the Adani Carmichael project, while Lloyd’s must now confirm that no syndicate of the Lloyd’s market will issue new, or renew existing, insurance for the Adani Carmichael coal mine and associated infrastructure.”

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