In June 2026, the Caisse Centrale de Réassurance (CCR) made the commitment to stop new investments in companies developing new oil and gas projects. A preventive measure that reflects a logical decision: to stop financing companies that contribute to the climate risks it underwrites. CCR is nevertheless the only publicly backed reinsurer in Europe to have taken such a decision. Reclaim Finance calls on other schemes, including Flood Re (UK), the Consorcio de Compensacion de Seguros – CCS (ES) and SACE (IT), to follow suit. Beyond their investment policies, these reinsurers have other tools at their disposal to change the practices of their partners and insurance clients.
According to insurance industry experts, climate change is considered to be the greatest threat facing society (1). As the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events continue to rise, insurers (2) and reinsurers (3) are calling for preventive measures to be implemented in order to preserve the insurability of homes and businesses.
Missing the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C: a threat to maintaining the insurability of risks
According to the United Nations, it is highly likely that the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C by 2100 compared with the pre-industrial era will not be met (4). Every effort must now be made to avoid each additional fraction of a degree of warming and thereby prevent irreversible tipping points (5) with major consequences for society and the insurance sector.
Some voices within the insurance sector have been sounding the alarm for many years. In 2025, Günther Thallinger, board member of the Allianz Group, warned that the risks generated by a world that is 3°C warmer would no longer be transferable to the insurance sector.(6) Ten years earlier, Henri de Castries, CEO of the AXA Group, had already shared a similar warning.(7)
Fossil fuel expansion: a threat to keeping global warming as close as possible to 1.5°C
Since 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has published its Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (NZE),(8) a pathway to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 for the energy sector, an essential milestone if we are to have any hope of keeping global warming as close as possible to 1.5°C by 2100.
The IEA is clear: achieving net zero emissions requires a drastic reduction in coal production (-92%), oil production (-78%) and gas production (-75%) by 2050 compared with current levels.(9) The NZE projects an immediate end to the development of new coal mines and coal-fired power plants, as well as new oil and gas fields approved after 2021. In its latest NZE updates, the IEA has also indicated that the significant decline in natural gas production projected under this scenario means that a very large number of LNG terminals currently under construction or in the planning stage are not needed.(10)
In light of these projections, public reinsurers, whose mission is to preserve the insurability of homes and businesses, must do everything in their power to combat fossil fuel expansion, which threatens efforts to limit global warming and therefore undermines their own mandate.
Financing fossil fuel expansion: a practice at odds with climate risk prevention
Public reinsurers such as Flood Re and CCR have for several years been implementing preventive measures in their capacity as reinsurers (11) and investors,(12) in order to limit the future cost of climate-related claims they reinsure.
These efforts are necessary but insufficient unless they are accompanied by an investment policy that prevents them from financing companies responsible for fossil-fuel expansion across the entire value chain,(13) including:
- Thermal coal: new mines, power plants and dedicated infrastructure
- Metallurgical coal: new mines
- Oil and gas: new fields, oil and gas pipelines, LNG import and export terminals, and new gas- or oil-fired power plants
Among the four public reinsurers discussed in this article, only CCR has committed to ending new direct investments, notably in bonds, in companies developing new thermal coal projects as well as new oil and gas projects. Without such a policy, premiums being paid by homeowners may be invested in the very companies that are driving global warming and making flooding more frequent and intense. This would not be in line with the public mission of these reinsurers.
This is a necessary preventive measure to avoid financing these companies through the purchase of their future bonds, at a time when bonds account for between 70% and 97% of these public reinsurers’ financial asset portfolios.
Financial assets held by four European public reinsurers
| Publicly backed reinsurer | Portfolio of financial assets – in €bn | % held in bonds |
|---|---|---|
| CCR | 11.4 | 69.0% |
| CCS | 10.4 | 78.8% |
| SACE | 2.9 | 96.8% |
| Flood Re* | 1.2 | 89.0% |
*The asset allocation rules set for Flood Re (e.g. duration and risk level) limit its exposure to bonds to government bonds. However, Flood Re has been advocating for several years for the ability to invest in riskier assets, including corporate bonds. Flood Re could potentially make new investments in companies developing new fossil fuel projects.
Once this commitment has been made, they can also make certain contracts with asset managers and their insurance clients (ceding insurers) conditional on compliance with the new rules.
Using new levers to drive change in the practices of partners and clients
As guarantors of the insurability of climate risks, these reinsurers must exercise greater scrutiny of their partners’ practices. In particular, they should require the asset managers to whom they delegate part of their investments to adopt investment policies aligned with their own on fossil fuel expansion, and refuse to award mandates to asset managers that fail to meet these expectations.
To date, no public reinsurer has taken such a measure, as illustrated by the recent fixed-income management mandate awarded to the asset manager Aberdeen by Flood Re, (14) as well as the private-assets mandate awarded to Amundi by CCR.(15) Yet both asset managers continue to invest in companies developing new fossil fuel projects, particularly in oil, gas and LNG, and to support them through their votes at Annual General Meetings (AGM).
Public reinsurers also enter into contracts with insurers (reinsurance treaties) that continue to support the development of new fossil fuel projects. In other words, they agree to reinsure part of the extreme climate risks to which their insurance clients are exposed, even though those clients contribute to driving those risks. Public reinsurers can put an end to this paradox by introducing financial incentives, or even strict eligibility conditions, into their reinsurance contracts.
CCR is the first public reinsurer in Europe to commit to no longer financing companies developing new oil and gas projects across the entire value chain. This commitment should now inspire other public reinsurers, such as CCS in Spain, Flood Re in the UK and SACE in Italy, to do the same. Going forward, they will need to activate additional levers to change the practices of their stakeholders, starting with their clients and asset managers.
