by Simon Jessop and Carolyn Cohn
LONDON (Reuters) – Europe’s biggest insurer, Allianz, said on Friday it was taking a tougher line on insuring the oil and gas sectors to bring its underwriting policies in line with global targets to fight oil and gas. global warming.
This decision follows an International Energy Agency report published last year, which indicated that investment in new oil and gas fields must be stopped if the objective is to be achieved. “net zero emissions” by 2050.
Faced with growing pressure to accelerate companies’ efforts to reduce emissions, Allianz said that from 2023 it would no longer issue new property and casualty insurance contracts to finance new oil and gas projects, and that would stop renewing existing contracts from July 2023.
“With these new guidelines, Allianz reinforces its promise to contribute to the decarbonisation of the economy,” said Günther Thallinger, member of the group’s board of directors.
Allianz said that from January 2025 it will only insure oil and gas companies that have committed to achieving “net zero emissions” by 2050, including major oil companies responsible for the largest part of the broadcasts.
The NGO Insure our Future welcomed Allianz’s initiative, “which raises the bar for the insurance sector” and called on other players in the field to follow its example.
Allianz is the tenth major insurance company to adopt restrictions on the oil and gas sectors.
Among others, Swiss Re, the world’s second-largest reinsurer, said in March it would no longer insure most new oil and gas projects.
(Report Simon Jessop; French version Federica Mileo, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)
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