Our best insurance is to keep fossil fuels in the ground

Insurance companies have a responsibility to immediately stop insuring fossil fuel expansion. Except for a few laggards, most insurers have stopped insuring new coal projects under pressure from the Insure Our Future campaign. However, contradicting their own climate commitments, most insurers continue to underwrite the expansion of the oil and gas industry.

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Number of companies with fossil fuel exclusion policies, by sector

Insurers, as society’s risk managers, should take responsibility to actively support global action to avoid climate breakdown, and drive the transition to a low-carbon economy. Without insurance most new fossil fuel projects cannot go ahead and existing ones must close.

 

Click here to view a detailed document on insurance company fossil fuel underwriting policies

Insurers need to stop supporting fossil fuel expansion

Insure Our Future calls on all insurers to immediately stop insuring new fossil fuel projects, and to phase out existing coal, oil and gas insurance in line with a 1.5°C pathway.

Prominent voices from the public and private sector agree:

Reducing exposure to Oil & Gas should be the next environmental objective for insurers… and could help unlock an additional ‘green premium’ for the sector.
Société Générale
There are no new oil and gas fields approved for development in our pathway [Net-Zero to 2050] and no new coal mines or mine extensions are required.
International Energy Agency's Net Zero by 2050 report, May 2021
We need net zero commitments to cover your underwriting portfolios, and this should include the underwriting of coal - and all fossil fuels.
Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the Insurance Development Forum
I encourage insurers to only underwrite those portfolios that are consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. Any further delay in concerted anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.
IPCC Sixth Assessment Report on Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability

We have 6 demands to the insurance industry:

1
Immediately cease insuring new and expanded coal, oil, and gas projects.
2
Phase out, in line with a credible 1.5ºC pathway, insurance for coal, oil and gas companies.
3
Divest all assets, including assets managed for third parties, from coal, oil, and gas companies that are not aligned with a 1.5ºC pathway.
Coal mining in surface mine. Miner looking on the huge excavator.

Leading European insurers underwrite 30% of U.S. coal despite net zero pledges

Washington, D.C., 28 September 2023 – Leading European insurers are underwriting nearly a third of U.S. coal production despite their net zero commitments, reveals a new report released today by Insure Our Future. Lloyd’s of London, Zurich and Swiss Re are among the top ten insurers of the 25 biggest U.S. mines, which produced more …

View into a coal mine with working wheel excavator

International NGOs urge climate laggards Samsung Fire and Marine and Samsung Life to immediately set comprehensive coal phase out policies and stop renewing coal insurance

Seoul, 21 September 2023 – In a collective effort to address the climate crisis, a group of 29 NGOs from across the world, including Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC) and Insure Our Future, has issued an open letter to the CEOs of Samsung Fire and Marine (Samsung FM) and Samsung Life Insurance demanding stronger climate …

nyiragongo volcano, nord Kivu, DRC

New Report from Greenpeace: Congo oil fields are quickly becoming uninsurable

Kinshasa, 8 September 2023 – Any company granted exploration and exploitation rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) oil auction could find itself without financial protection, according to a report published today by Greenpeace Africa, Insure our Future, Reclaim Finance and Urgewald. If leading insurance and reinsurance companies follow their commitments and their general …