It’s decision time. Next week, AXA’s CEO,Thomas Buberl, could decide to stop his multinational company from insuring any new oil and gas projects.
Withdrawing insurance coverage from these dirty projects is a powerful lever to keep fossil fuels in the ground. In the past AXA has done a pretty good job - by becoming the first insurer to exclude all coal projects.
And in 10 days, on Climate Finance Day, AXA could do exactly the same thing for oil and gas. Problem is, the initiative is facing a lot of backlash and opponents are doing their best to water down the new policy to save their most juicy and climate-wrecking deals.
We need your help to call on Thomas Buberl, AXA’s CEO, to adopt a new breakthrough policy to end AXA’s support for new oil and gas once and for all:
Tell Thomas Buberl to take leadership on climate and stop supporting new oil and gas projects!
Thomas Buberl is considered the most active climate leader within the insurance industry. In 2017, he stopped insuring new coal projects. AXA’s move was followed by many insurers and coal has now become almost uninsurable.
Despite this, a new investigation will soon publicly reveal that AXA continues to insure the exploration of huge oil and gas reserves, including in fragile ecosystems near the mouth of the Amazon River which are home to blue whales, manatees and other threatened species.
Today, AXA has not only the unique opportunity to follow through on its green promises, but it also has the power to redefine the rules of the game by making oil and gas projects uninsurable too.
Tell Thomas Buberl to take the lead on climate by ending all support for new oil and gas projects!
A few days ago, the International Energy Agency concluded the planet cannot afford any new oil and gas projects if we want to avoid catastrophic climate breakdown. Thomas Buberl is now in the hot seat to live up to his commitments: he must follow the science and not yield to climate wreckers’ greed.
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. Today, together, we can bring the most powerful actor to do the right thing and bring the industry with him:
Thomas Buberl: show the world you’re leading on climate not following! Stop insuring all new oil & gas projects for the sake of people and the planet.
More information
World Energy Outlook 2021
International Energy Agency. 1 October 2021.
International Energy Agency. 1 October 2021.
Insurers must end support for new oil and gas projects to meet climate targets
Insure Our Future. 17 June 2020.
Insure Our Future. 17 June 2020.
AXA exposed as an insurer of gas expansion
Reclaim Finance. 11 March 2021.
Reclaim Finance. 11 March 2021.
How much of the world’s oil needs to stay in the ground?
The Guardian. 8 September 2021.
The Guardian. 8 September 2021.
