By Dieter Holger

 

Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA pledged to cut a quarter of greenhouse-gas emissions in its stock and bond investments by 2025, adding pressure to companies in its portfolio to move on climate change.

To help make its investments carbon neutral by 2050, the Trieste, Italy-based company said it would make the 25% cut to its listed equities and corporate-bond holdings and align its real-estate portfolio to a 1.5 degrees Celsius global-warming pathway. Generali's total assets under management stood at 671.6 billion euros ($798.4 billion) at the end of March.

It also said it would invest EUR8.5 billion to EUR9.5 billion euros between 2021 and 2025 in green and sustainable investments. Generali said it surpassed its previous target of EUR4.5 billion between 2019 and 2021 a year in advance, reaching some EUR6 billion at the end of 2020.

Plus, Generali said it will cease investments in companies with thermal-coal operations in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries by 2030 and the rest of the world by 2040.

Generali is among big European insurers that have placed increasingly restrictive policies on fossil fuels and boosted investments in cleaner energy due to climate change. Others include Allianz SE, AXA SA and Zurich Insurance Group AG.

Last year, Generali joined the United Nations-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, which represents institutional investors with more than $6.6 trillion under management that have pledged to make their portfolios carbon neutral by 2050.

"We believe that the private sector can play a key role in financially supporting the 'just transition' for a future with net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by assisting public institutions in taking the necessary actions," Generali Group Chief Executive Philippe Donnet said.

 

Write to Dieter Holger at dieter.holger@wsj.com; @dieterholger

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 30, 2021 07:39 ET (11:39 GMT)

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