Mothers Rise Up stages fossil fuel protest outside Lloyd’s

Climate action group protestors have urged Lloyd’s to cease insurance for new fossil fuel projects, and called for a “fair and rapid phase-down and out of existing fossil fuel projects in line with a 1.5°C pathway”.

Mothers Rise Up, a group of concerned mothers who campaign for climate action, staged a classical performance outside Lloyd’s on Monday, alongside a peaceful interfaith vigil by Quakers in Britain.

The street performance consisted of more than 30 dancers grouped into mothers and corporates, creating a show performed to Dvořák’s New World Symphony, with performers dressed in black as oil derricks depicting the fossil fuel industry, and a young child in a huge planet Earth costume. Mothers Rise Up said the insurance industry could be a powerful force for positive change.

The performance kicked off Insure Our Future’s Global Week of Action, with more than 57 events happening across 27 countries and six continents from 26 February to 3 March, from New York to Tokyo and Zurich.

“The Global Week of Action aims to highlight the insurance industry’s complicity in helping fossil fuel projects to expand, while climate breakdown is happening on a global scale and parts of the world are becoming uninsurable or people can no longer afford insurance premiums,” said Mothers Rise Up.

Emma Powell, co-founder of Mothers Rise Up, said: “We all want a healthy and thriving planet for children and future generations. Through music, props and dance, we are creating a vision of a better world and urging the insurance industry to play its role in bringing this future into reality. We hope that our action will see those in the city looking up from their everyday business and committing to do their bit in working towards the cleaner, brighter future all children need.”

Maya Mailer, co-founder of Mothers Rise Up, added: “As the climate crisis deepens and our fears mount for our children and all children, we continue to search for creative ways to inspire insurers to take courageous action. Through their underwriting choices, insurance companies can play a pivotal role in accelerating a fair, rapid transition to a world powered by safe, clean, renewable energy. And yet insurers in the Lloyd’s marketplace continue to insure and enable dangerous fossil fuel expansion, including human rights-abusing projects like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. The world’s oldest and most influential marketplace should be a leader, not a laggard, and play its part now in preventing further climate breakdown.”