Insurance Rebellion members also have insurer Tokio Marine HCC within their crosshairs
This morning (28 July 2021), an activist from climate change action network Insurance Rebellion was arrested after throwing a bucket of green paint over the Lloyd’s of London building at 1 Lime Street.
The protestor chucked biodegradable, water-based paint at Lloyd’s HQ before sitting down and waiting for the police. The individual also held a banner reading: “Stop insuring fossil fuels now”.
This action is the latest within Insurance Rebellion’s campaign to “highlight the shameless greenwashing being carried out by Lloyd’s of London, [which continues] to insure fossil fuel projects across the world”.
Insurance Rebellion is a network of groups, including Extinction Rebellion, which formed in April this year.
It aims to halt climate and ecological breakdown by ending the insurance of fossil fuel projects and companies. The group’s initial focus is Lloyd’s, which it believes provides around 40% of energy insurance worldwide.
Speaking on this morning’s incident, 28-year-old teacher and Insurance Rebellion member Zoe said: “We’re sick and tired of Lloyd’s of London’s obvious and persistent greenwashing.
“[It] recently teamed up with Prince Charles to very publicly launch a so-called taskforce for tackling the climate crisis, but [the market] still happily [insures] any oil or gas project that pays them a high enough premium.
“[It has] a coal exclusion policy, but this doesn’t start until next year and [Lloyd’s is] allowing coal insurance renewals for another 10 years.
“Nothing [Lloyd’s does or says] can be taken at face value – [it is] just trying to convince the public that [it is] taking the climate crisis seriously. We’re here to point out Lloyd’s is lying.”
Insurance Rebellion spokesperson Lisa added: “Lloyd’s is simply pretending to take positive climate action while it still enables huge swathes of the fossil fuel industry.”
Lloyd’s of London’s current market-wide policy allows its members to continue insuring existing coal projects until 2030.
The ‘heart of ethical corruption’
Insurance Rebellion’s first protest at Lloyd’s took place in April 2021, when protestors unloaded a large pile of fake coal outside the Lloyd’s of London building.
Although Lloyd’s remains the primary target for Insurance Rebellion’s campaign, members said insurers such as Tokio Marine HCC will also now come under fire.
The group said: “We will continue to target the heart of ethical corruption in insurance - Lloyd’s of London - but will also start to focus on its worst members too, for example Tokio Marine, [which is] one of the biggest insurers of coal globally.
“Also, the extremely polluting Trans Mountain Pipeline is currently attempting to find insurers who care little enough about its impact on the climate and people to insure it - we’ll be paying close attention to any insurance company stupid and selfish enough to partner with it.”
A spokesperson at Lloyd’s told Insurance Times: “Lloyd’s is accelerating its transition towards a more sustainable insurance and reinsurance marketplace and has set out specific actions and commitments to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
”We are actively involved in constructive engagement across the industry to reduce coverage of fossil fuels and to combat climate change. We continue to explore the ways in which Lloyd’s can support a responsible transition, including through constructive conversation with [non-governmental organisations].”
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