Sompo Holdings
Mr. Okumura Mikio,
Group Chief Operating Officer, President and Representative Executive Officer,
Sompo Holdings, Inc.
26-1 Nishi-shinjuku 1-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN

June 18, 2024
Dear Mr. Okumura,This month, community leaders and NGOs around the globe are taking action to hold
Sompo accountable for your continued support of destructive fossil fuel projects. This
includes Sompo’s underwriting of gas expansion near Brownsville, Texas, United States,
especially the Rio Grande LNG project in Texas highlighted in Risk Exposure: The Insurers
Secretly Backing The Methane Gas Boom in the US Gulf South.1
To ensure a livable planet, insurers must phase out the underwriting and cease investment
in fossil fuels like oil and gas. What the fossil fuel industry refers to as liquified natural gas(LNG) is typically more than 90% methane. This potent greenhouse gas has more than 80
times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after it reaches theatmosphere.2 Methane is not a bridge fuel, but a continuation of fossil fuel expansion,
which pollutes communities, harms human health, and heats the planet.
We also have grave concerns regarding the adverse impacts on Indigenous rights,
environmental justice, climate, and conservation caused by the proposed methane export
terminals3 that Sompo is supporting, including NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG. Two other
LNG projects in Rio Grande Valley, Glenfarne Group’s Texas LNG Project and Enbridge’s
associated Rio Bravo pipeline that would supply gas to Rio Grande LNG, also violate
human and environmental rights. We caution that if your institution supports any of these
dangerous projects, it faces significant reputational damage – as the public urgently
demands responsible and sustainable practices.
We urge you to refrain from underwriting and cease investment in Rio Grande LNG,Texas LNG, and the Rio Bravo Pipeline.

1

https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/RAN_LNG_2024_vF.pdf
https://www.iea.org/reports/methane-tracker-2021/methane-and-climate-change3
https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/RGV_LNG_2022_FINAL_WEB.pdf
2

Over the past eight years, public opposition has mounted against Rio Grande LNG andTexas LNG, the LNG export terminals that have been proposed in Texas’ Rio GrandeValley. Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, and the Rio Bravo Pipeline are formally opposed by
the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, the City of South Padre Island, the City of Port
Isabel, the Town of Laguna Vista, Long Island Village, the Laguna Madre Water District,and the South Padre Island Business Owners Association.4
Indigenous peoples and additional local communities have joined environmental andclimate justice organizations in warning banks and insurers away from supporting thisproject, garnering global media coverage in outlets including Texas Public Radio,5 Grist,6The Houston Chronicle,7 The Financial Times,8 Le Monde,9 and many more. In response,French banks BNP Paribas10 and Société Générale11 have effectively severed theirrelationships with these projects.12 Additional major European banks have adopted
policies that would limit their ability to finance this project along with other similar
proposed LNG export projects.
1. Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, and the Rio Bravo Pipeline projects violate the rightsof Indigenous Peoples.
Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG and the Rio Bravo Pipeline projects are proposed on land thatis sacred to the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. The Texas LNG terminal site contains
Garcia Pasture, a sacred burial and village site of the Tribe. This site is on the National Park
Service’s list of historic places and declared an endangered site by the World Monuments
Fund in 2022. The Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe is legally challenging the construction of4

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/print-edition/2016/06/17/texas-lng-supporters-opponents.html
5
https://www.tpr.org/environment/2024-02-27/climate-activists-deliver-demands-wetland-samples-to-rio-gr
ande-lng-funder-in-new-york-city
6
https://grist.org/looking-forward/behind-one-gulf-coast-communitys-efforts-to-oppose-liquefied-natural-gas/7
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/The-Great-LNG-Debate-A-growing-industry-fa
ces-13958286.php
8https://www.ft.com/content/5c051556-6efd-4db3-9152-508d7e0de566
9
https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2017/03/01/des-ong-reprochent-a-bnp-paribas-de-financer-l-export
ation-du-gaz-de-schiste-americain_5087238_3244.html
10https://group.bnpparibas/en/press-release/bnp-paribas-details-and-strengthens-its-energy-transition-ambitions
11
https://www.amisdelaterre.org/communique-presse/french-bank-societe-generale-withdraws-from-rio-gra
nde-lng/
12
https://www.sierraclub.org/texas/blog/2017/10/bnp-paribas-makes-sweeping-announcement-cut-busines
s-tar-sands-pipelines-and-lng

Enbridge's Rio Bravo Pipeline, which would intersect land that the Tribe owns in
Brownsville, Texas.13
The protection of cultural sites is a human rights issue under the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Garcia Pasture site, which is listedon the National Register of Historic Places, has known burials, village remains, discrete
shell working areas, and contact period artifacts. Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, and thecompany Enbridge, behind the Rio Bravo Pipeline project, have failed to consult with theCarrizo/ Comecrudo Tribe, which is a violation of the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed
Consent (FPIC), for the protection of Indigenous Peoples' rights guaranteed underinternational law.14
2. Building any new fossil fuel infrastructure is incompatible with meeting net-zeroby 2050.
New and expanded LNG export terminals are fundamentally incompatible15 with the goalsof limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C or reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.16 According
to Sierra Club’s LNG Tracker, the annual combined lifecycle greenhouse emissions fromRio Grande LNG and Texas LNG would be equivalent to the annual emissions of 50 coalplants, or about 46.2 million gasoline-powered cars.17 It would also expand fracking in theEagle Ford and Permian shale basins – an extraction practice that not only harms
community health by contaminating local water and air, but also results in higher methaneleakage rates.18
Recent research on the climate pollution from LNG exports confirms that LNG is as bad asor worse than coal, because of upstream methane leakage and boil-off during shipping.19
Wind, solar, and storage are among the zero-GHG energy options that are available andcompetitive today, further dispelling the notion that methane gas is needed as a “bridgefuel.” It is imperative that we stop building new methane gas export terminals to decrease

13

press release: nextdecade letter on clear cutting
https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/620854/bp-consent-is-everybodys-busi
ness-200819-en.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y15
https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-202316
https://www.sierraclub.org/articles/2023/09/president-biden-must-defuse-another-carbon-bomb
17
https://www.sierraclub.org/dirty-fuels/us-lng-export-tracker
18
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/fracking/10_questions.html
19See, for example, a forthcoming study by Cornell University climate scientist Robert Howarth:https://www.research.howarthlab.org/publications/Howarth_LNG_assessment_preprint_archived_2023-11
03.pdf14

greenhouse gas emissions and adhere to domestic and international climate goals andcommitments, including the Paris Agreement and the Global Methane Pledge.20
3. Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, and the Rio Bravo Pipeline threaten the localeconomy, damage the local ecosystem, and exacerbate environmental injustice.
These facilities would be the largest single-source emitters of thousands of tons ofharmful and cancer-causing pollutants into the air, disproportionately impacting thehealth of nearby low-income, immigrant, Indigenous, and communities of color. Thefacilities would also degrade the local fishing, shrimping, and nature tourism industries,
which represent a significant part of the local economy.21
The LNG export and pipeline projects would also pave over a “greenfield” of undeveloped
wetlands, pollute two federal wildlife refuges, and divide a national wildlife corridor
meant for species migration. The Texas LNG site would span about 625 acres — four times
the size of Disneyland. The Rio Grande LNG site is 984 acres and is bigger than New YorkCity’s Central Park.
Construction and operation of these projects would destroy habitats for multiple
endangered species. Habitat loss, industrial noise, and LNG ship traffic would mean
“permanent and significant” impacts to the following species: Endangered Ocelot,
Northern Aplomado Falcon,22 Rice’s Whale, and Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle.23
The United States Presidential Administration and associated Department of Energy havepaused further approval for methane export terminals until climate and community
impacts are assessed.24 While Rio Grande LNG and Texas LNG are unjustly not directly
affected by the pause, providing support for these projects poses reputational risks toyour institution and would cause irreparable harm to local ecosystems, Indigenous rights,
low-income communities, and the climate.

20

https://www.globalmethanepledge.org/“Texas Brownsville LLC Texas LNG Project Resource Report 8,” Natural Resource Group, March 2016;“TCEQ Stand With the Community: No Air Pollution Permits for LNG,” Save RGV from LNG, October
2016.
22“Species Profile for Northern Aplomado Falcon,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, accessed 16
September 2016; “Species Profile for Ocelot,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, accessed 16 September
201623https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05/FEIS-volume-I_0.pdf
24
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/26/fact-sheet-biden-harris-admi
nistration-announces-temporary-pause-on-pending-approvals-of-liquefied-natural-gas-exports/
21

Sompo’s subsidiary, Endurance American Speciality, has been a key underwriter of Rio
Grande LNG, offering excess liability and occurrence insurances with USD $3 million inpremiums.25 As Sompo states in its Group Policy for Human Rights, it pledges to respect
the human rights of all stakeholders in global markets, throughout its group and across allvalue chains.26 However, given the human rights violations already linked to the LNG
project, it is not clear how Sompo will make sure its clients fully respect human rights, andwhat action will be taken should the situation not improve. Although Sompo became thefirst Asian insurer with a coal company screening policy with 30% threshold,27 it is behind
its global peers as it does not have any meaningful policy to restrict underwriting forconventional oil and gas.
We urge Sompo to 1) stop underwriting the Rio Grande LNG export terminal and cease
investment in NextDecade, 2) introduce a FPIC policy to make sure Sompo’s clients
protect the rights of Indigenous communities, and 3) introduce a conventional oil and gas
restriction policy.
We will hold any financial institutions that choose to support these harmful LNG projects
accountable for the human and environmental rights violations associated with them.
Sincerely,

1. South Texas Environmental Justice Network (On behalf of the Rio Grande Valleycommunity)
2. Rainforest Action Network
3. Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES)
4. Insure Our Future
5. MARBE SA, Costa Rica
6. Green America
7. Climate Stick Project
8. urgewald
9. Ekō
10. Mekong Watch
11. Private Equity Stakeholder Project
12. Texas Campaign for the Environment
25

https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Rio-Grande-LNG-NextDecade-LNG-LLC-003_Redacted.pdf
26
https://www.sompo-hd.com/en/csr/system/vision/
27
https://www.sompo-hd.com/-/media/hd/en/files/news/2022/e_20220628_1.pdf?la=ja-JP13. ReCommon
14. Campax
15. KoSIF (Korea Sustainability Investing Forum)
16. 350Hawaii
17. Connecticut Citizen Action Group
18. For a Better Bayou
19. Koalisi Rakyat untuk Hak atas Air
20. Solutions for our Climate
21. Stand.earth
22. Reclaim Finance
23. Oil Change International
24. Mothers Rise Up
25. Earth Ethics, Inc.
26. ENGLISH
27. Don't Gas Indonesia Network
28. Elders Climate Action

For any questions you may have, please contact;● Bekah Hinojosa, South Texas Environmental Justice Network (On behalf of the Rio
Grande Valley community) Bekahbot@gmail.com● Ruth Breech, Rainforest Action Network ruth@ran.org● Yuki Tanabe, Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES)
tanabe@jacses.org● Rie Aso, Insure Our Future campaign rie.aso@sunriseproject.org