Another French insurer has taken a step forward in tackling oil and gas expansion. Cov\u00e9a has committed to ending insurance coverage for new oil and gas fields, bringing the group in line with its French peers AXA and SCOR. The commitment, which is consistent with Cov\u00e9a\u2019s ambition to actively contribute to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, includes its reinsurance subsidiary PartnerRe. While this move is necessary, it remains insufficient. Like AXA and SCOR, Cov\u00e9a continues to support the expansion of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.<\/p>\n<\/div>
In its 2025 annual report, published in May 2026 (1), Cov\u00e9a announced that it would no longer provide insurance coverage for \u201cany new constructions of oil and gas exploration\/extraction fields\u201d. The measure will notably apply to PartnerRe, the reinsurer acquired in 2022 (2), and to MMA, the group\u2019s insurance arm with significant exposure to small and medium-sized businesses.<\/p>\n
While MMA\u2019s activities did not expose the group to major fossil fuel companies and their infrastructure, Cov\u00e9a\u2019s acquisition of PartnerRe \u2014 the world\u2019s 12th-largest reinsurer (3) and an active player in specialty lines, including energy risks (4) \u2014 means the group now insures such activities.<\/p>\n<\/div>
Cov\u00e9a has become the world\u2019s 12th (re)insurer and the third French insurer, after AXA<\/a> and SCOR<\/a><\/span>, to commit to ending insurance coverage for new oil and gas fields (5). The move comes nearly two years after the last similar commitment in the sector, adopted by Swiss insurer Zurich Insurance<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n The commitment is consistent with Cov\u00e9a\u2019s objective of contributing to net-zero emissions by 2050 (6) and aligns with the International Energy Agency\u2019s (IEA) Net Zero by 2050 scenario, first published in 2021. In that scenario, the IEA makes clear that achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 requires no new oil and gas fields approved after 2021 (7).<\/p>\n<\/div> A review of Cov\u00e9a\u2019s annual report leaves little room for doubt: MMA and PartnerRe will apply strict restrictions within their respective markets and will no longer insure new oil and gas fields. While no exception is mentioned in Cov\u00e9a\u2019s annual report, PartnerRe\u2019s 2025 ESG report (8) states that these restrictions may be overridden if the \u201cDivision Head\u201d determines that a new oil or gas field is located in an area lacking short-term alternatives.<\/p>\n Yet the notion of \u201cshort-term alternatives\u201d is left undefined. Without a clear framework, the provision leaves the door open to numerous exemptions. Unless Cov\u00e9a provides further clarification, this exception should be removed.<\/p>\n<\/div> Although Cov\u00e9a has committed to ending support for new upstream oil and gas projects, it can still continue underwriting an industry to which PartnerRe is exposed: LNG. Through an insurance certificate obtained by the U.S.-based NGO Rainforest Action Network (9), Reclaim Finance identified PartnerRe Ireland as one of the insurers of the Calcasieu Pass LNG export terminal<\/a><\/span> in Louisiana.<\/p>\n Committing to stop insuring new oil and gas fields while continuing to support the future expansion of LNG represents a major inconsistency in Cov\u00e9a\u2019s policy. This contradiction is particularly evident in the United States, where LNG export terminals rely on shale gas extracted through hydraulic fracturing for nearly 80% of their gas supply on average (10). These wells are characterized by very steep production decline rates after only two years of extraction (11). As demand from the rapidly expanding fleet of LNG export terminals continues to grow, oil and gas producers are incentivized to drill ever more gas wells to meet the growing demand.<\/p>\n Globally, the oil and gas industry plans to build more than 60 new LNG export terminals by 2030. These projects carry a potential greenhouse gas footprint of 10 GtCO2e (equivalent to more than three years of greenhouse gas emissions from all 27 European Union member states), including 150 Mt of methane emissions. Given the massive scale of LNG expansion and its incompatibility with a net-zero pathway (12), refusing to insure new LNG export terminals should be a priority.<\/p>\n<\/div> By adopting this commitment, Cov\u00e9a is sending a positive signal in the fight against oil and gas expansion and is now on par with French (re)insurers AXA and SCOR. However, the group must clarify the exception attached to its commitment to stop covering new oil and gas fields. For Cov\u00e9a and its two French peers, the time has now come to end their support for LNG expansion, the glaring blind spot in their oil and gas policies despite <\/b>its harmful impacts<\/b><\/a><\/span> at both local and global levels.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>A commitment weakened by an exception<\/h2><\/span>
Silence on LNG despite the risks associated with its expansion<\/h2><\/span>