Munich Re is the insurance villain you probably never
heard of. However, it is now one of the last of its peers
insuring and investing in disastrous new oil and gas projects.
They haven't even ruled out support for the East African
Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) – a project that
will soon rip through Uganda and Tanzania and
cause unprecedented damage to local livelihoods and the
environment.
All across Europe, insurance companies are ruling out the ugliest
fossil fuel projects. Just last week, Hannover Re joined companies
like AXA, Swiss Re, Zurich, Aviva and SCOR to change their policy
and rule out new oil and gas underwriting projects. But
Munich Re, who amassed historic profits last year, is refusing to
budge, choosing instead to pursue cash ahead of the
planet.
Next month, the giant company is holding its
annual shareholders' meeting, a crucial event for the direction of
the company. It’s time to escalate the pressure on Munich Re and
make it follow its peers.
Let's make Munich Re’s shareholders feel the heat by
exposing their choice to ignore the climate crisis and
continue supporting oil and gas expansion.
Vladimir,
tell Munich Re to stop supporting new oil and gas projects, starting
with the East African Crude Oil Pipeline!
Ironically, scientists at Munich Re started studying the possible
effects of climate change nearly five decades ago, in 1973, and were
some of the first in the industry to warn of the catastrophic damage
it would cause to our planet. Amazingly, the company has
done very little to tackle fossil fuels in its portfolios ever
since.
Munich Re can’t say it didn’t know. And being
one of the only European reinsurers left refusing to act on its oil
and gas business, is actually putting at risk its ability to
do its job credibly, ie. manage risk.
In less than a month, at the Annual General Meeting, Munich Re
CEO Joachim Wenning has a unique opportunity to follow his
peers and do the only sensible thing he can do: stop insuring
climate destruction! Let’s push him to make the right
decision and #InsureOurFuture.
Tell
Munich Re to stop being a climate pariah: publish a world-leading
oil and gas policy and make a clear commitment not to re/insure
EACOP.
All over the world, SumOfUs members and their partners are
ramping up the pressure on the world's biggest insurance companies
to hold them accountable for their complicity in climate chaos.
A few months ago, your mobilisation pushed the insurer
AXA - who is a self-proclaimed climate leader in the
insurance industry – to publish a new policy restricting new fossil
fuel projects, including oil sands, Arctic drilling, shale and
fracking - a historic milestone. Recently, under the
pressure, Swiss Re did the same, publishing an even greener
policy!
People’s mobilization has already led to five of the world’s
largest (re)insurers and 15 commercial banks renouncing their
involvement in EACOP, edging this controversial pipeline and its
associated oil fields towards failure.
Together, we can make Munich Re join this movement and do
the right thing.
Munich
Re: don’t be a laggard, publish a world-leading policy that
immediately excludes insuring or investing in any new oil and gas
projects globally, including a clear and specific commitment to not
insure EACOP.
