Kooperativa Pojišťovna will no longer insure CEZ Group coal-fired power plants beginning in 2022. According to the insurance company, this is one of the steps in moving away from energy sources that are harmful to the environment. Kooperativa is part of the Austrian Vienna Insurance Group. In response, CEZ stated that the step was taken by mutual agreement.
“We are following the VIG Climate Change Strategy, which the group adopted in May 2019. It shows, among other things, that the VIG group will stop investing in companies that use non-green coal resources by the end of 2035. In the last two years alone, we have reduced the number of these companies in our portfolio by 16 percent, “said Jiří Sýkora, a member of the Board of Directors of the insurance company.
He reminded that Kooperativa operates in the insurance market per all the rules of the European Commission, which concern sustainable finances, and takes all relevant steps leading to the reduction of the carbon footprint.
“The trend is clear, this step is by mutual agreement. That is why we presented a month ago our commitment to transform the product portfolio into a low-emission company by 2030. We will increase the output of emission-free sources to 6,000 megawatts by 2030, reduce emissions by 55 percent compared to 2019, ”said CEZ spokesman Ladislav Kříž.
He reminded that in 2030, ČEZ plans to produce 12.5 percent of all electricity production, last year it was about a third. “We have already set up a new insurance system for our coal-fired power plants from next year. Thus, we will provide these of our surviving resources until they are definitively shut down, “Kříž added. He did not specify the details of the system.
According to the government, the Czech energy mix should be based on nuclear energy and renewable sources in the long term. For a transitional period, the gas should help. Last December, the Coal Commission recommended ending the use of coal in the Czech Republic for the production of electricity and heat in 2038, and some ministers are in favor of diverting from coal as early as 2033.
The government took note of the recommendations of the Coal Commission. It did not approve the date but only recommended that the conditions, tools, and impacts of the earlier cessation of coal use in the Czech energy sector be further elaborated and evaluated within the commission.