Lloyd’s insurers targeted in latest climate protests
Environmental protestors took their campaign to the offices of several Lloyd’s and London market insurers yesterday, calling on them to rule out insurance cover for the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and the West Cumbria coal mine project in the UK.
In collaboration with Fossil Free London’s mass action this week, which saw Greta Thunberg arrested, activists targeted the offices of Ascot, Talbot, Chaucer, Markel, Allied World, CNA Hardy, Tokio Marine Kiln, Sirius International and Lancashire Syndicates. Campaigners said they staged a sit-in protest in office foyers carrying protest banners, while some glued themselves to floors.
Claude Fourcroy, a spokesperson for Money Rebellion, said: “We are calling on all the banks and insurers behind the West Cumbria mine and East Africa Crude Oil Pipelines to cut their ties now. Both of these projects will fuel climate breakdown. Lloyd’s of London and the insurers in its market sit at the centre of a web of climate wreckers in the City of London, alongside Barclays and HSBC.”
Six insurers have ruled out underwriting the West Cumbria mine – including AEGIS Managing Agency, Argenta Syndicate Management, Hannover Re, Talanx and Atrium Underwriters – while 23 insurers and 27 banks have ruled out involvement with the EACOP.
Campaigners argue the West Cumbria coal mine would increase the UK’s domestic carbon emissions while the EACOP threatens local communities, ecosystems and water supplies.
“Neither project will be able to go ahead without financial and insurance backing,” campaigners said.
Fossil Free London also took its action to the Canary Wharf offices of Total Energies, a majority shareholder in EACOP, as part of the Oily Money Out protests that targeted the Energy Intelligence Forum taking place at the InterContinental Park Lane Hotel.
Joanna Warrington, campaigner with Fossil Free London, said: “We can’t allow London to welcome the climate-wrecking elite when droughts, floods and wildfires rage across the world. London’s banks and finance sector have been ignoring all the warning signs while pouring billions into fossil fuel expansion. Their profit is our loss. Financing new fossil fuel developments is incompatible with a safe future.”
