GOP AGs killed $3T climate alliance.

Republican Attorneys General Successfully Challenge Climate Coalition

The collapse of the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance, which included some of the world’s top insurance companies with over $3 trillion in assets, was the result of a sustained, two-year legal battle led by Republican attorneys general across the United States. The attorneys general launched investigations into two other UN-backed industry coalitions, the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and the Net Zero Bankers Alliance, which aim to accelerate the transition to a net-zero emissions economy by pushing members to reduce investments in high-emissions industries.

Legal Issues Raised by Coordinated Campaign

The attorneys general raised legal issues because the published target requirements of the Net Zero groups are specific, and their members control large market shares of their industries. Peter Bisbee, the executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association, said, “The major fault with everyone in these Net Zero groups is it became very calculative. You could see exactly what they were doing and how they were doing it, and a lot of companies were putting out very mathematical language of how they were going to achieve these targets.”

In May, 23 state attorneys general warned the Insurance Alliance that it could be in breach of federal antitrust laws and their state equivalents that prohibit “agreements among competitors to issue uniform pricing policies, conditions of sale, production quotas, or otherwise limit the identity of their customers if those agreements will ultimately raise prices.”

Members Flee the Coalition

Members of the Net Zero Insurance Alliance had already raised concerns about the coalition’s explicit target goals. Munich Re, an insurance company that dropped out in March, left citing “material antitrust risks.” At least 14 other firms fled the coalition after receiving the May letter, including the $1 trillion insurance behemoth Allianz, Lloyd’s, Tokio Marine Holdings, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance. Just 16 members remain.

The United Nations Environmental Program is standing by the Insurance Alliance’s work, stating that “there is a fundamental and urgent need for collaboration, not just individual action.” However, the investigations into both the investment and banking-focused Net Zero groups are intensifying.

Antitrust Violations and Consumer Protection Laws

Attorneys general from multiple states are investigating the Net Zero groups for potential antitrust violations and consumer protection laws. Louisiana attorney general Jeff Landry is “concerned the Net Zero Insurance Alliance is stifling competition in Louisiana and driving up insurance costs for our consumers.” He is “investigating if their actions violate our antitrust and consumer protection laws.”

Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti said, “When industry participants band together to enact policy through their financial leverage, that oligarchical conduct runs afoul of both our antitrust laws and our republican form of government.” Montana attorney general Austin Knudson added that Net Zero groups are a way for activists to use corporations to “surreptitiously push political and social goals they couldn’t accomplish through our democratic processes.”

While antitrust cases are often settled out of court, Bisbee said he doesn’t expect state attorneys general to compromise if it moves to litigation. “This path that the AGs are on is one where I firmly believe they are going to try to end the practice altogether,” Bisbee said.

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