More than 70 organisations from over 20 countries across six continents have urged the biggest global insurance and reinsurance groups to stop providing insurance for fossil fuel projects and fossil gas expansion in Southeast Asia's Coral Triangle. These pose significant risks to the most biodiverse marine area on Earth.
The organisations that have raised the issue with the insurers, include Insure Our Future, Greenpeace, Laudato Si' Movement, 350.org and Oil Change International. These organisations have called upon 30 of the world’s leading (re)insurers and the managing agents operating in the Lloyd’s of London market to protect communities and biodiversity by stopping their underwriting and investment in fossil fuel projects in the Coral Triangle.
There are currently 113 oil and gas fields operating in the Coral Triangle, which spans the coasts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. The gas fields feed 19 LNG terminals, but there are plans to develop at least 27 more.
The letter warns that many of these terminals are close to or within UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Marine Protected Areas, including coral reefs, mangroves and sea grass beds. The rich biodiversity of the region is home to three quarters of known global coral species and provides critical natural infrastructure, reducing storm, flood, and coastal risk.
The Coral Triangle supports the livelihoods of more than 360m people in the region and underpins global seafood systems. Its reefs, mangroves, and seagrass ecosystems provide natural coastal protection, reducing disaster losses across typhoon-prone economies and strengthening climate resilience.
Centre for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED) Philippines Anj Dacanay said, “Insurers cannot turn a blind eye to the impact of the activities they insure on nature, especially when it comes to the impacts of LNG expansion in this precious part of the world. The rich biodiversity of the Coral Triangle is critical for people living in the region, and critical for our living world. Insurers must introduce a no-go zone for fossil fuel developers in the Coral Triangle and take steps to ensure they are not supporting the destruction of critical biodiversity elsewhere.”
Southeast Asian countries are some of the most impacted by the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. This is a critical moment for insurers to recognize the role they play in shaping climate and nature risks, and to proactively support a just and secure energy transition, by redirecting underwriting and investment toward renewable energy systems that are affordable, reliable, and equitable.
Insure Our Future global coalition Isabelle L’Héritier said, “From the Strait of Hormuz to the Coral Triangle, fossil fuel expansion is driving geopolitical volatility, supply chain shocks and biodiversity loss, as well as escalating climate-driven damages and human rights impacts. Reinsurers are not only exposed to these systemic risks, but they are also actively amplifying them by continuing to underwrite and invest in new oil and gas expansion across the value chain. In a world of compounding crises, credible risk management requires a rapid phase-out of fossil fuel expansion. The sector now faces a clear and urgent choice: act now to drive the energy transition or continue underwriting and financing rising systemic instability.
“Protecting the Coral Triangle requires an immediate binding exclusion on insurance, reinsurance and investment for all new and expanded fossil gas projects across the full value chain. This must be matched by a global stop to fossil gas expansion in high-biodiversity and protected areas, alongside robust requirements for respect for human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ Free, Prior and Informed Consent, with clear escalation and withdrawal mechanisms where these standards are not met.”