Fake Oil Spills Send Sustainability Warning To Global Insurance Heavyweights
On 29 October 2021, protesters taking part in the global Defund Climate Chaos protests spilled 1,000 litres of fake oil on the doorsteps of two insurance heavyweights.
The protesters , who claim alignment with the Insurance Rebellion movement, targeted the well-known insurance brands for their failure to act on environmental and climate change concerns.
The first ‘spill’ took place at the London headquarters of Lloyd’s, for its refusal to rule out insuring new oil-extraction ventures at the UK’s North Sea Cambo oil field, and its ongoing insurance of the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline in Canada.
The second ‘spill’ was orchestrated at AIG’s Belgium headquarters, where protestors cordoned off the area with ‘Climate Crime Scene’ tape, holding banners saying: “Here, AIG insures climate disaster.” Insurance Rebellion claims that AIG is one of the world’s top insurers of coal, oil and gas; and one of the few global insurers that has yet to adopt a policy to restrict insuring or investing in fossil fuels.
Insurance Rebellion said it had acted in solidarity with youth leaders who had organised a worldwide day of action under the Defund Climate Chaos tagline. Eve West, a spokesperson for Insurance Rebellion, said: “AIG is a market leader in fuelling climate breakdown. They join Lloyd’s as some of the worst insurance companies on the planet when it comes to underwriting toxic fossil fuel projects; we took action today because the insurance industry keeps supporting projects that will lead to a future of extreme weather, famine, mass migration and mass extinction.”
The pressure being brought to bear on global insurance, insurance broking and reinsurance brands to invest through an ESG lens was further illustrated by a second action at Lloyd’s’ Lime Street headquarters.
According to reports, Coal Action Network was joined by youth strikers from across the world and the Pacific Climate Warriors, to set up a climate justice memorial outside the insurance network’s offices. The climate memorial was created to remember communities on the front lines of climate breakdown, who are being directly impacted by harmful projects and climate impacts.
These protests took place on the eve of COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which kicked off in Glasgow, Scotland on 31 October. The event runs until 12 November.
Source : Africa Ahead
