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Munich RE, one of the world’s largest insurance firms, said Thursday it will no longer invest in or insure projects for new oil and gas fields as of April 1, 2023, part of its goal to meet targets set under the Paris Climate Agreement.
The change will relate to the planning, financing, construction or operation of:
- New oil and gas fields that had no prior production as of Dec. 31, 2022;
- New midstream infrastructure related to oil, which haven’t yet started construction or operations as of Dec. 31, 2022; and
- New oil-fired power plants that haven’t started construction or operation as of Dec. 31, 2022.
It applies to direct illiquid investments, its primary, facultative, and direct (re)insurance businesses. “The same applies where such risks are contained or bundled in one cover together with other risks (e.g., existing oil and gas fields), when the cover is mainly designed to protect one or more of such new risks,” the company said.
For its own listed equities and corporates portfolio, as of April 1, 2023, Munich Re well stop conducting new direct investments in pure-play oil and gas companies.
As of Jan. 1, 2025, it will require a commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 including corresponding short- and mid-term milestones from listed integrated oil and gas companies with the highest relative and absolute emissions.
In April, Shell (SHEL) said its net-zero target is no longer conditional on society’s progress
