"共同声明：SOMPOが日本の損保で初めてFPICを含む先住民族の権利を尊重する方針を設定," 15 January 2025

"Unofficial Japanese-to-English translation by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre"

SOMPO Holdings, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as SOMPO), one of Japan's major non-life insurance companies, updated its "Building ESG Considerations Into Our Operations" policy, adding projects that may violate the human rights of indigenous peoples to the scope of "Sensitive Projects and Sectors" and announcing that it would refer to international standards such as Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) (※1) . This is the first time that a Japanese non-life insurance company has established a policy to respect FPIC in insurance underwriting and investment. We welcome the establishment of this policy by SOMPO and urge Tokio Marine Holdings, and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc. to also establish policies to respect indigenous peoples' rights, including FPIC, as soon as possible...

NextDecade, the operator of the Rio Grande LNG project in the United States, for which it has been revealed that SOMPO is underwriting insurance, has never held a consultation meeting with the local indigenous people, the Carrizo-Comecludo, regarding the project, and has not obtained FPIC (※3)...

SOMPO should check with the Rio Grande LNG operator to see if FPIC has been obtained, and if it cannot confirm that FPIC has been obtained, it should immediately withdraw from the project...