An international alliance of NGOs released a letter on Thursday asking thirty insurers and reinsurers to modify their oil and gas activities to reach the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees set by the Paris Agreement .
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These NGOs - originally part of the international " Unfriend Coal " campaign aimed at bringing global insurers and reinsurers to reduce their coverage in the coal sector - are now attacking the activities of these companies in the oil and gas sectors.
This international coalition comprising nearly twenty NGOs, including Greenpeace international, the German Urgewald, the North American 350.org and the French Reclaim Finance, is now grouped in a new campaign called " Insure our future " intended to fight against " all fossil fuels incompatible with international climate objectives ".
“Transition to a sustainable future”
In 2018, the combustion of oil and gas represented 55.6% of carbon dioxide emissions and those linked to coal 40.3%, recalls the coalition in its, based on data from the organization Global carbon project.
" As governments plan for recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, insurers must champion the transition to a sustainable, equitable and resilient future as policyholders, investors and corporate citizens, " say the NGOs.
They call on them in particular to " immediately stop insuring new projects and businesses " linked to the coal, oil and gas sector. They also ask them to " phase out " their insurance guarantees to oil and gas companies, so as to respect a 1.5 degree trajectory and to " sell all (their) assets " in these sectors and that of coal.
In addition to the dissemination of this letter, the NGOs published Thursday of the oil and gas sector among which the American AIG, Chubb and Liberty Mutual, the German reinsurer Munich Re, his compatriot Allianz as well as Axa XL, subsidiary of the French group.
French insurer Axa, which has committed to aligning itself with the objective of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees, is particularly criticized by Reclaim Finance for having " voted 15 days ago against the climate resolution asking Total, the biggest polluter of the CAC40, to keep this same objective "and to have" increased its investments in gas and shale oil between January and March 2020 ".
Requested by AFP, Axa explained its vote at the GA of the French oil tanker by its support, via the coalition of investors Climate Action 100+, for the energy transition project presented by Total. “ We don't want to spread our efforts. A vote 'for' or 'abstention' would not have been consistent with this approach ”, reacted with a statement the insurer.
On its investments in oil and gas, the group indicates that its " approach is different for (this) sector " and that it intends to use " forward-looking measures " which for the time being "are not yet mature enough to be easily used ”but will be coordinated with their“ Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance peers ”.
This alliance, promoted by the United Nations, brings together insurers and pension funds committed to “ decarbonising ” their portfolios in order to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.