Open letter to the new CEO of SCOR, Thierry Léger

SCOR’s new CEO, Thierry Léger, formerly at Swiss Re, takes up his new role today, Tuesday 2 May, a few weeks before the group’s annual general meeting (AGM).

Reclaim Finance, along with 14 partner organizations, has sent him a letter, calling on him to strengthen the French group’s climate commitments as soon as possible. SCOR is the last major European reinsurer to still cover the development of new gas fields. This letter has been delivered just ahead of SCOR’s AGM when the group is expected to announce its new strategic plan. This plan is highly anticipated following SCOR’s poor results announced for 2022, caused in particular by the consequences of climate change.

Formerly director of underwriting at Swiss Re, Thierry Léger is familiar with the climate commitments of insurers. He was involved in implementing the Swiss reinsurer’s oil and gas policy, as well as being active in numerous NZIA projects, such as the protocol for defining decarbonization objectives announced last January. The AGM on May 25 is therefore an opportunity to create a new impetus for SCOR’s fight against oil and gas expansion, which he should not miss.

Mr. Leger, 

We, Reclaim Finance, along with 14 partner organizations worldwide, are writing to you to call on you to integrate the cessation of SCOR’s support for oil and gas expansion through its underwriting activities into SCOR’s future strategic plan to be presented at the General Meeting on May 25. 

The year 2022 has once again been marked by the consequences of climate change and an increase in the number of climatic catastrophes. As former Chief Underwriting Officer of Swiss Re, you have been directly confronted with the intensification of damages resulting from this disruption which, in your words, is “one of the greatest challenges facing our society”. 

You will soon be taking over as Chief Executive Officer of SCOR, the world’s 5th largest non-life reinsurer, which has announced net losses in 2022 for the first time in 20 years. Despite these negative results, caused in particular by the impact of climatic catastrophes, SCOR continues, against the trend of its main competitors, to feed climate change at its source by continuing to cover the expansion of fossil fuels, in particular oil and gas. 

In its Net Zero by 2050 scenario, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has clearly projected a halt to the development of new oil and gas fields and new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. It recently reminded us that even the war in Ukraine does not call into question this conclusion and that it does not justify, in any case, the development of a new wave of fossil infrastructures. 

On 25 May, at the General Meeting, you will announce SCOR’s future strategic plan, which your shareholders are expecting in order to restore the group’s profitability. We call on you to place the challenges linked to the climate emergency at the heart of this new plan by adopting a robust policy in the face of oil and gas expansion:

  • on new oil and gas fields: commit to no longer covering these new projects by adding new gas fields to the list of projects that SCOR commits to no longer covering.  SCOR should also remove from its current policy the exception made for new fields developed by companies in transition. Indeed, a company that has not committed to no longer develop new oil and gas fields cannot be considered as “in transition”. 
  • on new midstream oil and gas projects: commit as soon as possible to no longer covering new transport and storage infrastructures, and in particular liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. The construction of these infrastructure contributes directly to the development of new oil and gas fields generating greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come.

Such commitments would be in line with the climate ambitions of SCOR, a founding member of the NZIA committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 following a 1.5°C trajectory. This would allow SCOR to recapture the leadership it has shown in the past, being one of the first reinsurers in the world to announce measures against the coal industry in 2017.

Munich Re, Hannover Re, Swiss Re, Allianz, the biggest names in your industry have already committed, in connection with their net zero commitments, to no longer cover new oil and gas fields. We call on you to align with this commitment but also to go beyond it by announcing an additional commitment to no longer cover new liquefied natural gas terminals. 

Mr. Léger, a few weeks after your arrival at the head of SCOR, you have a unique opportunity, at the Annual General Meeting, to restore the French reinsurer’s climate leadership. We will be present at your AGM on 25 May and we are counting on you to announce that SCOR will stop supporting oil and gas expansion.

We thank you for your attention and remain at your disposal should you have any questions.

Yours sincerely

The undersigned organizations

Peter Bosshard – Insure Our Future Campaign Coordinator – World

Lucie Pinson – Executive director at Reclaim Finance – France

Nora Scheel – Campaigner at Campax – Switzerland

Yuki Tanabe – Program Director at JACSES – Japan

Tom Swan – Director of Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG) – USA

Mary Lovell – Energy and Finance Campaigner at Rainforest Action Network (RAN) – USA

Luke Fletcher – Director of Jubilee Australia Research Centre – Australia

Regine Richter – Senior Energy and Finance Campaigner at Urgewald – Germany

Kerrina Williams – Climate Campaigner – Public Citizen – USA

Lorna Powell – Organiser at Mothers Rise Up (MRU) – UK

Lorette Philippot – Senior Energy and Finance Campaigner at Friends of the Earth France – France

Leyla Larbi – Senior Campaign Manager at Ekō – World

Jakub Gogolewski – Energy and Finance Expert – Greenpeace – France

Sooyoun Han – Research lead of Climate Finance – Solutions For Our Climate (SFOC) – South Korea

Soraya Fettih – Campaigner France – 350.org – France

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2023-05-09T07:26:14+02:00