As they reopened after lockdown, Lloyd's of London and companies involved in their marketplace opened their offices to find local people demanding that they rule out insuring the West Cumbria and Adani coal mines immediately.

It was a great day with actions in 13 locations across the UK. This was the first time that the regional offices of insurance companies have faced coordinated action demanding action on climate change. We stood in solidarity with the communities campaigning gainst the Adani and West Cumbria coal mines.

Helen from Gateshead said: We all have a responsibility to care for our planet and that’s why we’re here today. To show that we need to say no to fossil fuels, to turn our backs on coal. And that’s why we’re calling on Lloyd’s of London to stop insuring all coal mines around the world now.

Zoe, a 50 year old Mum and small business owner from Warrington said “I took part in this local action to be part of giving a bigger national message to Lloyd’s of London, that in 2021 with the planet on fire, it is no longer OK to be insuring fossil fuel projects. Insurance seems such a dry and mundane thing, but when you realise it is crucial to any coal, oil or gas extraction going ahead, then you realise what power these people have. They can literally decide to turn off the emissions tap if they wished to! That means they hold the power of life or death – over many millions, if not billions of people, in the keystrokes of their keyboard, or the flurry of their pen. Imagine having that much potential to do the right thing – they could literally be the world’s greatest climate heros if they chose to be. What a legacy for them to leave their kids…”

 

Chris from Manchester said "We think that insurance companies , by the nature of their business about future risks,  have the resources and motivation to understand the practical implications of the climate emergency and the role fossil fuels play in causing and worsening that emergency. But we don't think they are being open about those risks. We need them to Tell the Truth and my being here demonstrating in Manchester, is part of holding them to account"

We got some great coverage in the insurance press with this journalist calling it how it is!

Lloyd’s response to these protests has resembled a rabbit caught in the headlights. These are sophisticated, well-informed groups armed with data and will not back-off. They will play a part in COP26 so Lloyd’s needs start responding with action.

— David Worsfold (@DavidWorsfold) May 24, 2021

Thanks to everyone who took action on the campaign so far, we are pushing the insurance industry out of coal! This week Adani's biggest contractor revealed it couldn't find an insurance provider that would cover the project

The action we are taking is making a massive difference to keeping the coal in the ground and protecting local communities from mining impacts.

A key to these massive victories has been keeping constant pressure up on the insurance industry. Help keep up the pressure by writing to Lloyd's, and it's 10 biggest insurers to demand they rule out the West Cumbria mine. If you've written before, keep on writing till they rule out the mine.

You can also spread the word by sharing this great video about Lloyd's on Facebook or Twitter

Thanks again for all your brilliant support,

Purpose of the action: This action is about having a conversation with staff members with the aim of connecting, informing, and respectfully calling on them to take action.

Phone call talking points:

• Because of when we are calling them, you probably won’t get through. That’s ok! We will just leave them loads of messages in their voicemail.
• Be polite and respectful.
• Let them know where you are calling from.
• Let them know about Adani’s coal mine in Australia and why you are concerned.
• Ask them if they’ve heard about Adani’s coal mine.
• Let them know that many Lloyd’s insurers have ruled out insuring Adani.
• Let them know you are ringing to ask that Ark takes action for a safe climate by publicly ruling out providing insurance for Adani’s coal mine.
• IMPORTANT: If you do get through to a staff member and they say ‘they aren’t involved’ or ‘they won’t be involved’ ask for them to send it to you in writing. Let them know your email address so they can send it to you.

PHONE CALL REPORT BACK

To help us collect intel on how Ark are reacting, if you get through to someone at Ark, please email info@stopadani.com with info about what happened and what was said.

EXAMPLE SCRIPT 

(feel free to adapt, especially if you are leaving a message in the voicemail)

Hi there, am I speaking with [staff name]? [listen]

Hi [staff name], my name is [your name]. I’m calling from [where you are from]. I’m calling because I have some questions about Ark’s involvement with Adani’s Charmichael coal project in Australia. Do you know about this coal mine? [listen]

I’m really concerned about this coal mine because [your reasons].

We know there are Lloyd’s insurers working with Adani. We have reason to believe that Ark could be one of the insurers involved, as it hasn’t joined the growing list of other Lloyd’s insurers that have ruled out insuring Adani’s coal project.

I’m calling you, because as an Ark employee, your voice is powerful. We are calling on Ark to be a climate champion and rule out insuring this coal project. Is this something you would like to see Ark do? [listen]

We’re looking for a written statement along the lines of: “Ark will not provide insurance for Adani’s Carmichael coal mine, rail, or port.” Even if Ark is currently insuring Adani, we will take this as a commitment to not re-extend the insurance.

Would you be willing to raise this internally? [listen]

Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me today. I really appreciate it.

[Ring off]

Purpose of the action:

Send Ark Insurance’s management LinkedIn messages and get them to stop insuring the Adani coal mine.

How will it works:

If you have LinkedIn, log in. If you don’t have it, follow the process (at the end of this page) to set up a profile, and then come back here.

Step 1: click on one of the ARK staff’s LinkedIn profiles provided below. This will open their profile in a new window.

Step 2: click on “connect” and then “add a note” to send them a message asking them to rule out insuring new coal and Adani.

Step 3: Type in your message. This will allow for a max. of 300 characters. Once you have finished typing, click on send.

Step 4: Done! Now send messages to as many other contacts as possible!

NOTE Instead of clicking on “connect”, you can also click on “message” the contacts. This will allow for longer messages, but messages can only be sent to max. 5 people per month from each account (depending on your payment plan).

Setting up a LinkedIn profile

Step 1: Head over to https://www.linkedin.com/signup/ and type in your email and chosen password. Then click on “agree & join”. You can also join with google.

Step 2: Type in your first name and surname, then click on “continue”.

Step 3: Do the security verification. Then fill in details about your location, and click on “next”.

Step  4: You’re done! Now go back to the beginning of the page and start messaging ARK employees.

Purpose of the action:

Send loads of calendar invites to insurance company directors and CEOs, to demand they rule out insurance for the West Cumbria coal mine. They will find all of these invites on their mail inbox next time they will open it. Annoying, right? 😉 But if they keep on ignoring our emails then we've got to find new ways to pressure them.

How will it work:

You can use Google Calendar or other calendar apps, such as Outlook calendar or Apple calendar. Our instruction in this how-to are just for Google Calendars, but it's a similar process for most apps.

If you don’t have an account set up with this ability, see the section at the end of this page which explains how to set up a Google account, and then come back here.

Step 1: Open google calendar, at https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/r and sign in if you need to. It should look roughly like this:

Step 2: Select a weekly view for your calendar. You should be able to do it through the drop-down menu on the top-right of your page:

Step 3: Select timings for a meeting. Click on a time over the next week over which you want to set up the meeting. A pop-up window asking you to set up details for the meeting should appear:

Step 4: Add title to the event. This should be the message you want the CEOs to get, such as “Don’t insure the West Cumbria coal mine”. Find below some ideas, if you want to copy and paste them.

Step 5: Add guests to your event. You will need to copy and paste the CEOs emails (find them below) here. This will send an event reminder to their emails. Make sure the emails are separated by a comma (we have added it below). Then click on save.

CEOs emails (just copy and paste them, with the commas):

williamhillman@aegislimited.com, darren.powell@awac.com, james@aianalysts.com, alex.christians@anv.eu.com, jlye@qicglobal.com, david.ibeson@apollounderwriting.com, hsturgess@archinsurance.co.uk, david.monksfield@argentagroup.com, david.snowden@argogroupus.com, ian.beaton@arkunderwriting.com, andrew.brooks@ascotuw.com, jamie.lewis@aspen-re.com, j.tighe@asta-uk.com, Richard.Harries@atrium-uw.com, victoria.rodriguesdacosta@axiscapital.com, david.reeves@barbicaninsurance.com, sally.lake@beazley.com, brian.randall@britinsurance.com, Rachel.Sabbarton@canopius.com, CSIS.enquiries@capita.com, sean.mcgovern@axaxl.com, ed.lines@chaucerplc.com, evan.greenberg@chubb.com, Jalil.Rehman@cnahardy.com, jjames@sompo-intl.com, peter.bilsby@ers.com, tom.shelley@faraday.com, adrian.daws@hamiltongroup.com, Stephen.harris@hampden.co.uk, srivera@tmhcc.com, kate.markham@hiscox.com, alex.priestley@lancashiregroup.com, matthew.moore@libertyglobalgroup.com, csmelt@mapunderwriting.co.uk, paul.jenks@markelintl.com, Chris.Beazley@msamlin.com, jgrainger@munichre.com, timothy.ryan@thehartford.com, richard.oduntan@nephila.com, AHiggins@newlinegroup.com, bofarrell@premiareus.com, david.harries@uk.qbe.com, bmd@renre.com, david.pearson@rsml.co.uk, matthew.bartlett@sameacock.com, robert.harman@siriusgroup.com, James.johnson@starrcompanies.com, Paula.Storey@talbotuw.com, smcmurdo@scor.com, nick.hutton-penman@tokiomarinekiln.com, nrnjak@travelers.com, ablades@wrbunderwriting.com

Step 6: After clicking on save, google will ask you if you want to send invitation emails to Google Calendar guests. Click on “send”. You’re done!

Step 7: Create as many events as you can!

Title Ideas:

Reminder: Don’t insure the West Cumbria mine!

Reminder: Commit to never insure the West Cumbria mine!

Reminder: Stop insuring coal projects!

Announce policy, rule out insuring coking coal

Announce policy, rule out insuring the West Cumbria mine!

Reminder: Insure our future, not coal!

Setting up a google account

If you don’t have a google account, you will need to set one up to use the calendar function. Here is how.

Step 1: Head over to the ‘create your Google Account’ page and fill in your data, then click ‘next’.

Step 2: Fill in recovery details (optional), DOB and gender details in the next page, then click ‘next’.

Step 3: Choose what level of personalisation you want to set, then click on ‘next’. The express option will be faster, but will give you less control over what data google collects of you. You can change these settings later on too.

Step 4: Once you have finished personalising your account, you will be asked to agree to Google’s Privacy and Terms. Click on ‘I agree’.

Step 5: You’re done! Now click on the ‘calendar’ tool on the top right corner and start creating events 🙂

Major Lloyd’s of London insurers Brit and Hiscox are the latest firms to rule out insurance for Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal mine project.

Brit was the sixth insurer to stop underwriting risks directly related to or associated with Adani’s Carmichael coal mine project, joining AXA XL, Liberty Mutual, and HDI Talanx, who were insuring the coal mine before ruling out further involvement, and Lloyd’s insurers Apollo and Aspen Re, who committed to stop underwriting the project when active policies expire. Hiscox not only ruled out insuring Adani but brought in policy to stop future insurance for all new coal mines.

Brit and Hiscox’s commitments are major blows to Adani’s disastrous Carmichael coal project. Lloyd’s of London was one of the last places on Earth that Adani could turn to find insurance, and they were one of the largest remaining insurers. Now, Lloyd’s doors are just inches from being closed to Adani, for good.

These announcements came after 750 Coal Action Network supporters flooded the inboxes and phone lines of Brit and Hiscox.  This pressure was in solidarity with the ongoing action taken by the Australian Stop Adani movement. Locals in Coffs Harbour and the Gold Coast (Australia) had been hounding Brit and Hiscox for months and our combined pressured worked. Now we’re uniting the voices of community members in West Cumbria resisting the Woodhouse Colliery and Australian Stop Adani protesters to push Lloyd’s even further. That's why on the 16th March we're holding an online rally to take action together and plan big bold action for 2021.

Liisa from Stop Adani Coffs Harbour describes the campaign: "For months we got no formal response from Brit. We were getting worried – but we kept at it, sharing our stories, adapting our tactics, and trying new things. We were buoyed by conversations with some Brit staff in London, who were also concerned about the Great Barrier Reef, bushfires and the role of coal in fueling these climate impacts.

Our unrelenting phone calls, emails and calendar reminders, combined with the actions of other #StopAdani groups and our allies in UK, made ripples which grew to a wave that Brit could not ignore."

People across Australia have been fighting for 10 years to stop one on the most devastating mining projects currently being planned on the globe. The Adani coal mine, if it goes ahead, will open up the Galilee basin - one of the biggest untouched coal reserves on the planet - paving the way for at least eight more coal mines to be built. All at a time when scientists are warning we can't build any more fossil fuel infrastructure if we want to avoid catastrophic global heating.

Australia is already the world's number one exporter of coal and these mega-mines would double their current output! If that isn't enough, if built, Adani’s Carmichael mine will:

• Destroy the ancestral lands, waters and cultures of Indigenous people.
• Allow 500 more coal ships to travel through the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area every year for 60 years.
• Get access to 270 billion of Queensland's precious groundwater for 60 years, for free.
• Risk damaging aquifers of the Great Artesian Basin.

People across Australia have been fighting for 10 years to stop one on the most devastating mining projects currently being planned on the globe. Folks in Australia have asked for our help to stop Adani and here's why...

On the front line of the Adani mine standing their ground are the Wangan and Jagalingou people who have never given their free, prior, and informed consent to Adani’s mine and have said "No" to Adani 5 times. Adani has not only stolen their land (with the government's permission) but also bankrupted their spokesperson.

The Wangan and Jagalingou people are joined by others from across Australia standing up to corrupt politicians and the mining giants who own them. Together they have built the biggest climate movement in Australia's history. The Stop Adani movement have made this mine an iconic fight for climate justice - rallying across the country, blocking the train lines leading to Adani's coal port, occupying politicians offices, and building support amongst the majority of Australians for the #StopAdani campaign.

The campaign has been massively successful stopping commercial banks across the world investing in the project, and getting contractors associated with the project to pull out. However, as it stands, this mine will go ahead. That's why they are asking for people in the UK to join them in solidarity to Stop Adani.

Last year documents were leaked showing that Lloyd's of London are insuring the Adani mine. This kicked off a wave of actions targeting the individual insurance companies that make up the Lloyd's marketplace. The majority of the 70+ insurance companies involved have committed to not reinsure Adani. The 13 left are holding out and are getting so used to hearing Australian accents on the phone that they just hang up when they hear them.

The Stop Adani movement have asked people in the UK to join them and help get these last few insurers to rule out the project. If the coal mine can't get insured then it can't operate.

TAKE ACTION - You can get involved by contacting Lloyd's of London and asking them to rule out the project.

Right now, Lloyd’s of London is insuring climate wrecking coal mines, tar sands pipelines and power stations, across the world. Insurers can single-handedly stop fossil fuel projects, but have failed for decades to take action in the face of a climate emergency.

Lloyd’s accounts for 40% of the total global energy insurance premium and is a key influencer in the global insurance industry. Send Lloyd’s a message to act on the climate emergency, not act as the last refuge for climate wreckers to secure insurance!

Even in a year of lockdowns and restrictions, people across the world are standing up to Lloyd’s, and it’s working.

Leading the charge has been the #StopAdani movement in Australia. They have pushed most of Lloyd’s insurers to rule out insuring a coal mine that would open up the Galilee Basin and potentially more than double Australia’s current coal exports.

Adani's proposed coal mine is the most environmentally and socially contentious project in Australia's history, the object of years-long resistance from the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners and the broader community.

Just days after 750 people in the UK joined the Stop Adani movement by writing and calling Lloyd'd insurance companies, the extra pressure helped convince Brit to rule out insuring the Adani coal mine. Now the Stop Adani moment has asked us to pile the pressure on another key Lloyd's insurer - Hiscox.

Hiscox are rumoured to be sitting on an unreleased coal policy, that could see them stopping insuring all new coal mines. We want them to realise their policy ahead of the 3rd March, when they announce their annual profits.

Help #StopAdani get in touch with top Lloyd's insurer Hiscox now!

Get in contact via Hiscox via LinkedIn, Phone or even Google calenders!

Write to Hiscox to demand they rule out Adani