Marsh comes under further pressure to cut EACOP ties

Campaign group Insure our Future has written to Marsh’s CEO calling on his firm to stop brokering the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and sent a letter to CEO’s at rival firms Aon, WTW and Arthur J Gallagher urging them to rule out involvement in the hugely controversial project. The move comes after human rights and environmental groups filed a complaint to the US government last week alleging that Marsh has violated OECD guidelines by broking cover for the planned EACOP. The groups want Marsh to stop acting as insurance broker for the controversial pipeline and have urged the US government to help bring about this change in behaviour. The complaint has been submitted by US-based Inclusive Development International, as well as ten human rights and environmental organisations in Uganda and Tanzania, to the US National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. This is an office within the US State Department tasked with handling allegations against American companies. It is the first such complaint ever filed against an insurance broker anywhere in the world, according to Inclusive Development International. The complaint argues that Marsh failed to conduct adequate human rights and environmental due diligence before engaging in the EACOP project, and therefore breached its responsibilities under the OECD Guidelines. The complainants are calling on the US NCP to consider the allegations against Marsh and recommend that the insurance broker brings its conduct in line with OECD standards. They are also appealing directly to Marsh to change course. The groups have asked the broker to bring its operations “back into alignment with the OECD Guidelines by withdrawing from its role as broker for the project and commit to abstaining from offering brokerage services for the EACOP project in the future”. “Given the severity of the claims, the complainants suggest that Marsh should at minimum commit immediately to withhold its services until the complaint is resolved,” they added. And now Insure Out Future has written to Marsh’s CEO Martin South asking him to rule out support for EACOP. Lindsay Keenan, European insurance coordinator at the campaign group, said Marsh’s “credibility is on the line”. “In supporting the EACOP Marsh is not enabling an energy transition – it is aiding and abetting climate and human rights crimes,” said Keenan. “Insurance brokers cannot ignore human rights, the environment or the climate crisis when deciding which projects or clients they will support to find insurance. Marsh has now had a week to consider the credible and damning evidence presented in the OECD complaint, and it should respond to the evidence presented by immediately withdrawing from its role as broker for EACOP,” she continued. “We also call on the CEOs of the world’s three other major insurance brokers, AON, Arthur J Gallagher and Willis Tower Watson to take account of the available evidence and to publicly commit that they will abstain from offering brokerage services for the hugely destructive and controversial EACOP project. No company that expects to be taken seriously on environment, social and governance issues should provide services to EACOP,” added Keenan. Insure Our Future pointed out that the world's four largest reinsurance companies – Munich Re, Swiss Re, Hannover Re and SCOR – and many leading insurers such as Allianz, AXA, Generali, Talanx and Zurich are amongst at least 22 (re)insurers that have all already said they won’t cover EACOP. But Keenan said some brokers appear think their role is to help fossil fuel clients evade net zero and human rights commitments. “Marsh and other leading brokers should make clear that they support human rights, climate science and the action taken by leading (re)insurers. They should immediately make a clear comment that they will not provide insurance brokering to EACOP,” said Keenan.

Marsh comes under further pressure to cut EACOP ties

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