On 18th October dozens of protesters staged a sit-in occupation of the plush City of London offices of ten Lloyd's of London insurers demanding they rule out insuring the proposed West Cumbria coal mine and East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
In collaboration with Fossil Free London’s “Oil Money Out” and standing in solidarity with South African activists in Johannesburg, protesters gathered first at Standard Bank then marched waving banners saying “Don't Insure EACOP' and “Don't Insure West Cumbria Mine” to three high profile buildings including the “Walkie Talkie”.
In a simultaneous action others entered the office foyers of Talbot, Chaucer, Ascot, Markel, Allied World, CNA Hardy, Tokio Marine Kiln, and Sirius International and Lancashire Syndicates and refused to leave.
Community members from Cumbria and Uganda joined the protest, sharing the united call to insurers and banks to stop underwriting deadly fossil fuel projects. The West Cumbria Mine will break the UK government’s legally-binding net zero emissions target and the massive 1443 km East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline will wreak havoc on communities, jeopardise ecosystems and water supplies and eliminate the possibility of Earth remaining habitable. There can be no new fossil fuels anywhere if global heating is to remain under 1.5C. Neither project will be able to go ahead without financial backing.
The protesters were joined by Patience Nabukalu, a youth activist from Fridays for Future Uganda who said:
“We have gathered here today to demand that insurers cut ties with the EACOP. By supporting this deadly fossil fuel project they undermine any climate commitments they have made. People in Uganda are facing human rights violations in the name of this project. This has to end.”
Insurers from Lloyd’s of London have come under increasing pressure to rule out offering insurance to both the West Cumbria coal mine and EACOP, facing protests at offices across the UK with hundreds of students entering the job market refusing to work for them.
Claude Fourcroy, a spokesperson for Money Rebellion said: “We are calling on all the banks and insurers behind the West Cumbria mine and East Africa Crude Oil Pipelines to cut their ties now. Both of these projects will fuel climate breakdown. Lloyd’s of London and the insurers in its market sit at the centre of a web of climate wreckers in the City of London, alongside Barclays and HSBC.”
The occupations came on the second day of the Fossil Free London “Oily Money Out” protests targeting the Energy Intelligence Forum where fossil fuel corporations talk to government. This Forum occurs in the run up to the COP28 Climate Conference where President Sultan Al Jaber CEO of ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company), has been captured by fossil fuel corporations.
There must be no more coal, no more gas and we must stop the flow of oil. Join our campaign to stop insuring the climate crisis.
This week, facing mounting pressure from campaigners, Lloyd’s of London syndicate, Probitas1492, ruled out providing insurance for Adani’s Carmichael coal mine and its related infrastructure. Probitas was known to insure the mine’s transport system, but also admitted that the mine itself had been insured through the Lloyd’s of London marketplace.
Ash Bathia, Chief Executive Officer of Probitas Managing Agency wrote to Money Rebellion, stating: “I can confirm that Probitas1492 ceased to provide insurance for the Adani Coal Mine at the end of last year, and will also not provide any insurance support in the future for any ancillary or associated activities, including the trainline, once the existing policies expire in the next quarter.”
Various environmental groups have targeted Probitas since February, when an industry tip-off revealed that they were underwriting Adani’s train line and haulage operation. Last week, Money Rebellion activists staged a ‘die-in’ protest at Probitas’s London office. This followed disruption to Lloyd’s AGM in May, and a delivery of giant Valentine’s Day cards asking Probitas to exit the mine, including from the head man of Waddananggu tribe.
Claude Fourcory, Money Rebellion, said: “This is a massive win for the movement. Deadly fossil fuel projects like Adani’s Carmichael mine can’t be allowed to continue. Insurers at Lloyd’s of London are only going to see bigger and bigger protests, as more people understand their involvement in enabling climate breakdown.”
Gurridyula Gaba Wunggu, Wangan and Jagalingou Cultural Custodian, said: “Probitas1492 has made the right decision – this shows the strength and determination of everyone who played their part in forcing their hand. This is also a message to all other Adani financiers and insurers – we are coming for you too and we will not stop until you pull out from Adani. This has been the homeland of our people for millennia. Any insurer or financier still backing Adani is complicit in the destruction of Wangan and Jagalingou homelands and the ethnic cleansing of our culture and people. Don’t underestimate our determination. We plan to be here until Adani is forced to abandon this project, so we can watch them pack up and leave our homelands for good.”
Set to be the largest coal mine in Australia, Carmichael has been called a ‘carbon bomb.’ [1] The Queensland project would produce enough coal over its lifetime to emit 4.6 billion tonnes of CO2, equivalent to over ten years of the UK’s annual emissions. The Australian coal is burned in Adani’s Godda power station in Jharkhand, India, which is already mired in human rights abuses including forced displacement, and two workers have been killed on site.
Probitas1492 now joins 45 of the world’s biggest insurers who have distanced themselves from the mine, including five that had previously provided Adani with coverage: Brit, Apollo, Ascot, Aspen, Tokio Marine and Kiln. 28 of these insurers manage syndicates at the Lloyd’s marketplace.
Marsh McLennan, the world’s largest broker, stopped arranging insurance for Adani last year due to pressure over the project’s environmental abuses.
The Adani Carmichael mine has received widespread condemnation from climate scientists and activists, both locally and internationally, for its impact on water usage and carbon emissions. The mine’s Abbot Point coal port is located in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, and campaigners estimate the mine would bring 500 coal ships through it every year.
Meanwhile, experts fear that Adani’s vast drainage of nearby groundwater may have already “locked in” irreversible damage to local, ancient wetlands known as the Doongmabulla Springs.
The springs are sacred to the land’s traditional owners, the Wangan and Jagalingou people, who have never given their free, prior and informed consent to the mine. Indigenous leaders have resisted the project since its inception.
Pablo Brait, Campaigner at Market Forces in Australia said: “The Carmichael coal mine is one of the most controversial projects in Australia’s history. It will drain the region of billions of liters of water per year, putting agriculture at risk. It is increasing industrialisation in the already distressed Great Barrier Reef, and it will fuel worsening floods, heatwaves and bushfires. The Carmichael operations are paving the way for more climate-wrecking coal mines in the region, and its dirty coal is being used by Adani to expand its fossil fuel burning activities in India.”
More trouble for Adani
Adani began exporting small amounts of coal from Carmichael in 2022 – 8 years behind schedule – and has been rocked by difficulties throughout.
Earlier this year, Lockton, another top-10 global broker, entered talks with Adani, before deciding in July not to proceed after pressure from campaign groups and staff.
In total, 113 major companies in the banking, insurance, rail freight and engineering sectors have now ruled out support for Adani Carmichael, or the Adani Group entirely. This includes banking giants BNY Mellon and China’s ICBC.
Controversy for Lloyd’s
Probitas1492’s involvement with Adani is understood by campaigners to have caused controversy within the Lloyd’s of London marketplace. Lloyd’s policy, as of 1 January 2022, asks syndicates not to take on new thermal coal risks. Lloyd’s has been criticised, however, for failing to implement this.
Andrew Taylor, Coal Action Network said: “The fact that the Adani coal mine infrastructure was still being insured through Lloyd’s points to an abject failure of its ESG policy. It shouldn’t take thousands of people from across the world to pressure Lloyd’s managing agents to cut ties with new fossil fuel projects. These companies need to act themselves and adopt policies and behaviour that reflect the existential threat climate change poses.”
Due to the pooled nature of coverage written at Lloyd’s, other syndicates may still be involved in Adani Carmichael. Lloyd’s managing agents yet to comment publicly on their involvement include: Barbican, Hamilton, Markel, Renaissance Re, SA Meacock and Starr.
Probitas1492’s withdrawal follows comments from Dominic Hoare, Chief Underwriting Officer at Lloyd’s Munich Re Syndicate and a senior industry figure, on the reputational risk of insuring fossil fuels: “Reputation is now key and reputation affects your share price…From our point of view, pressure to cease underwriting is very effective. Insurance is an incredible tool for enacting change.”
Lloyd’s of London is the world’s oldest and largest global insurance market. Developed in the 1600s, it drew its initial wealth from insuring the slave trade. It remains the world’s largest insurer of fossil fuels.
Following a week of protests, Cincinnati Global’s syndicate at Lloyd’s confirmed that it will not insure the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, which has been the subject of international protests.
(Nick Chalk), Active Underwriter with Cincinnati at Lloyd’s confirmed verbally with a member of the Insure our Future campaign, “We 100% do not write this project and we have no intention of ever writing it.”
“Thousands of Ekō and Coal Action Network members sent over 4 millions of emails, thousands of tweets and hundreds of phone calls to 3,140 Lloyd’s managing agents staff, demonstrating to the insurers the unfailing mobilization of people worldwide against the coverage of the shameful EACOP and any new destructive fossil projects, said Leyla Larbi, of international NGO Ekō.”
Talbot (AIG) at Lloyd’s, which has been equally targeted, also by street demonstrations, did not make a statement. Parent company AIG was also targeted the same week by protests at its New York headquarters on EACOP.
Isobel Tarr of Coal Action Network said “The pressure will continue to grow on Talbot and AIG to get them to commit to ruling out EACOP. When their counterparts in the Lloyd’s marketplace have started to rule out this monstrous pipeline, Talbot’s silence starts to sound like complicity with the project and all its associated climate impacts and human rights abuses.”
Following these protests, more accounts of associated human rights abuses have surfaced, as a French civil court heard the case against Total’s conduct brought by African Civil Society organisations. Witnesses detailed the French oil giant’s forceful acquisition of land and property leaving families without food. The case was ruled inadmissible on a technicality.
Meanwhile, community leaders in Uganda have reported an escalation in ‘phsychological torture’, by the Ugandan state, including harrasment and detentions, as the French oil company Total Energies and the Chinese state company CNOOC are moving ahead with the oilfields and pipeline projects.
Baraka Lenga, of the Tanzanian chapter of the international multi-faith network GreenFaith, said: “We applaud Cincinnati Global’s syndicate at Lloyd’s for taking a stand and refusing to insure the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline. Their decision sends a strong message that the environmental and human rights impacts of this project cannot be ignored. However, Talbot’s silence in response to the protests is concerning. We urge them and AIG to listen to the concerns of local communities and to prioritize the protection of people and the planet above profit.”
ENDS
The EACOP would be the world’s biggest heated oil pipeline, stretching nearly 900 miles (1,443 kilometers) through the heart of East Africa from Uganda to Tanzania. The project, developed by the French oil company Total Energies and the Chinese state company CNOOC, has already caused large-scale displacement of local communities and poses grave risks to protected environments, water sources and wetlands in both Uganda and Tanzania. Those include the Lake Victoria basin, which 40 millions of people rely upon for drinking water and food production. If completed, it would also enable the extraction and transport of enough oil to generate over 34 million tons of CO2 emissions per year at peak production, exacerbating the ongoing climate emergency.
#StopEACOP
Since its inception, the project has faced opposition from affected communities along the pipeline route and their advocates, as well as the global #StopEACOP campaign that they built. For more on this, visit www.stopeacop.net.
To date, 24 banks and 23 insurance companies have ruled out providing support to the EACOP project due to the unacceptable environment and human rights impacts. The EACOP project backers are currently looking for funding and for re/insurance and are approaching the London financial and insurance markets for support. And social movements are responding with creative and direct action
Talbot Underwriting Ltd
Talbot is part of the AIG group of companies and manages the syndicate 1183 at Lloyd’s of London. AIG sets ESG policy for Talbot and has policies against some oil extraction including tar sands, but is also yet to comment on EACOP.
Cincinnati Global Underwriting Ltd
Cincinnati, which manages syndicate 318 at Lloyd’s, has previously issued public statements ruling out Adani Carmichael coal mine and the Trans Mountain Pipeline (Tar Sands)
Yesterday, 23rd February activists from the StopEACOP Coalition held an ‘oil spill’ demonstration outside the offices of two insurance companies, Talbot & Cincinnati Global Underwriting to demand the companies rule out the controversial East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
Activists staged a moveable ‘oil spill,’ with hazard signs that highlighted the risks of the controversial project, outside the offices of Talbot, before taking the scene with them to Cincinnati Global Underwriting to target staff at both Lloyd’s of London insurers. Activists brought banners naming the individual insurers, demanding they distance themselves from fossil fuel projects like EACOP, and talked to staff to urge them to raise the matter internally.
Meanwhile, phone calls poured into the offices of both companies with supporters of the demonstration urging the company to take a position against EACOP on environmental and human rights grounds.
On the reason for targeting the firms Talbot and Cincinnati, Elara Shurety of Coal Action Network explained:
"While Cincinnati and AIG (parent company of Talbot) have ruled out other climate-wrecking projects such as Adani and the Trans Mountain Pipeline, they have stayed silent when asked about EACOP, and their oil and gas policies are relaxed enough to permit them to insure this climate disaster. We know that EACOP is seeking insurance at Lloyd’s where these companies manage syndicates."
Despite the growing controversy around the project, including human rights violations, the French oil company Total Energies and the Chinese state company CNOOC are moving ahead with the oilfields and pipeline projects.
Despite the growing controversy around the project, including human rights violations, the French oil company Total Energies and the Chinese state company CNOOC are moving ahead with the oilfields and pipeline projects.
Baraka Lenga, of the Tanzanian chapter of the international multi-faith network GreenFaith, said: "We urge Talbot and Cincinnati to commit publicly to ruling out the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. Our land, water, and natural resources are integral to our livelihoods and culture, and this pipeline poses a significant threat to our well-being and future with unacceptable risks and impacts. We implore the insurance companies to stand with us by prioritising the health and safety of our communities, as well as the preservation of our environment. Let us work together towards sustainable development that benefits everyone, instead of supporting a project that will only bring harm to our beloved home."
Maxwell Atuhura, of the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) in Buliisa, Uganda, said: "Financial institutions and insurers that choose to lend their financial muscle to harmful fossil fuel projects, must recognise their role in fuelling the climate crisis that is devastating communities. It's time these institutions make a conscious effort to transition towards more sustainable and ethical investments. Those which have ruled out EACOP have chosen to prioritise the lives of communities and the future of our planet and generations to come."
The protest comes on day four of a coordinated 'global week or action on EACOP' by the StopEACOP coalition of civil society groups including Coal Action Network, Money Rebellion, Let’s Stop EACOP UK, BankTrack and Tipping Point UK. Throughout the week Lloyd’s insurers have been targeted through street demonstrations, online activities and phone calls. Since Monday an unprecedented 4 million emails have been sent to Lloyd's of London insurers by thousands of global supporters of the campaign, in a ‘communications blockade’ urging them to join the 22 other insurers that have already ruled the project out.
AIG, parent company of Talbot, will also be targeted by the StopEACOP global week of action in New York in a demonstration on Friday 24th February in NY on Friday.
Today we delivered Coedie's message and thousands others from around the world in the form of 6ft tall talking valentines cards, to all three of Probitas 1492's UK offices: Lloyds of London, Lime Street (London), and Manchester.
We want to make sure they can't ignore indigenous communities, and people all over the planet who will be impacted by this climate bomb. Check out some pictures from our action, your messages, and how to get involved in keeping the pressure on Probitas.
Printed inside the card: a lot of love for the planet and for the community resistance - not a lot of love for Probitas.
We need to show Probitas that the global movement against Adani won’t let them get away with their involvement. Will you join us and ramp up the pressure we’re placing on them?
We're asking our supporters to sign up to take regular action, emailing staff at Probitas over their companies role in enabling this carbon bomb. We'll be sending you new contact details at every few days – no two people will be receiving the same staff to contact. This tactic means that together we can contact more staff, and be as effective as possible in turning up the heat. Let's convince them to stop insuring climate breakdown.
As always, we'll be providing you with example emails to use & help along the way.
When we’ve taken action together, the #StopAdani movement has won against insurers and brokers again and again - now the industry knows it's one of the most controversial projects in the world. We need to make sure this climate-wrecking project has nowhere left to go.
Let’s make sure Probitas knows what it’s getting into: send your message today.
Four insurers ruled out EACOP in the past two weeks due to pressure from activists and engagement with campaigners, with Canopius the latest to distance itself from the mega-pipeline
A statement from Canopius followed the hand delivery of a letter from Money Rebellion, urging them to rule out the controversial project. Lee Jones, Head of Marketing and Communications at Canopius said: “Canopius can confirm that we have no involvement, or plans to be involved with the insurance of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.”
The East Africa Crude Oil pipeline, or EACOP is a 1,443 kilometre pipeline planned for Uganda and Tanzania. It threatens to displace thousands of families and farmers from their land, severely degrade critical water resources and wetlands in both Uganda and Tanzania, and rip through numerous sensitive biodiversity hotspots. The oil transported via the pipeline would generate 34 million tons of carbon emissions each year. Local resistance against the project has been ongoing since 2017 as an international Stop EACOP campaign has led advocacy since 2020.
Activists pointed to insurers who have been contacted but are yet to rule out the project, including Brit, Chaucer and Tokio Marine Kiln, Chubb, Liberty Mutual and AIG, as the next targets. All have syndicates within the Lloyd’s of London marketplace which has been criticised over its lack of robust exclusions on fossil fuels.
Further companies with syndicates in the Lloyds marketplace yet to respond to the request for information about their involvement in EACOP include Cincinnati Global and Lancashire Syndicates.
This week, the Extinction Rebellion group, Money Rebellion, will hand-deliver letters to Brit, Chaucer, Tokio Marine Kiln and Chubb, encouraging them to rule out the controversial scheme.
Hundreds of activists from around the world have joined an online platform supporting them to contact insurers and make a case for staying away from EACOP by exposing the numerous climate, environmental, social risks and human rights violations associated with the project. Coal Action Network estimates that by Tuesday morning around two thousand emails will have been received by staff at Brit and Chaucer.
Last week the East African regional insurer Britam ruled out the project in response to a complaint that it did not meet the IFC (International Finance Consortium) Performance Standards. Arch and AEGIS, both Lloyds of London syndicates also ruled out involvement.
Samuel Okulony, of Ugandan organisation and #StopEACOP partner Environment Governance Institute (EGI), said, "Supporting projects that are marred by human rights violations, environmental degradation, and the destruction of our country's natural heritage is unacceptable. While some reinsurers and banks have abandoned the EACOP project due to its disastrous nature, we continue to urge those who are still considering it to refrain from being complicit and to withdraw financial support."
Isobel Tarr of Coal Action Network added, “Because the project can’t be fully insured in-country, global insurance broker Marsh is seeking insurance for EACOP on the international market. Lloyds of London is top of the list, and all the companies the #StopEACOP campaign is targeting syndicates there. If Lloyd’s brought in robust exclusions on fossil fuels then their syndicates wouldn’t be subject to such pressure from campaigners on projects like EACOP.”
EACOP has been condemned by the European parliament for its associated human rights abuses in Uganda and Tanzania with arrests and indefinite detention of peaceful protestors taking place in October, forcing other insurers to distance themselves. The pipeline and associated Tilenga oil field are expected to displace almost 118,000 people in Uganda and Tanzania. And nearly a third of the pipeline would be built in the Lake Victoria Basin, on which more than 40 million people depend for their water and food production and where an oil spill would be disastrous.
The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline is a heated oil pipeline currently under construction. Once completed, it will stretch for almost 1,445 kilometres across Tanzania and Uganda – making it the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world.
The pipeline will disturb sensitive ecosystems, and a vital water supply supporting 40 million people. Its ongoing construction has already displaced thousands of people in villages in Uganda, with 100,000 people expected to be displaced.
Insurers are openly ruling out EACOP in quick succession, including 4 of the world’s biggest re(insurance) companies: Munich Re, Swiss Re, Hannover Re, and SCOR.
We can see these tactics are working - we just got Arch and AEGIS to rule out insuring this deadly project. But we need all insurance companies to rule out EACOP, and stop the toxic pipeline at its source. Next, we want Brit, and Chaucer insurance to rule it out, and we know that constant pressure works.
SIGN UP to take action, and you will receive details of new people at Arch to email every couple of days. Let's convince them to stop insuring climate breakdown.
Contact: Andrew Taylor, Coal Action Network, andrew@coalaction.org.uk
Arch Capital Group Ltd and AEGIS London join the 19 (re)insurance companies ruling out the controversial East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project.
Arch Capital Group Ltd responded to ongoing pressure on their insurance business by ruling out insurance for the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). A statement issued by the company follows sustained pressure on Lloyd’s of London managing agents to rule out underwriting EACOP, and days after Money Rebellion spilt fake oil outside Arch’s London offices.
Patrick Palmer, Head Of Marketing and Communications at Arch Insurance International, confirmed, in an email to Money Rebellion and Coal Action Network : “Arch Capital Group Ltd. can confirm, on behalf of its underwriting operations, that it has not and will not issue any insurance policies covering the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.”
Arch Capital Group Ltd had been targeted by people across the world, from a range of groups, for over two months exposing the numerous climate, environmental, social risks and human rights violations associated with the project. Thousands of emails had been sent to staff asking them to raise the issue with senior management, hundreds of supporters of the #StopEACOP coalition and Coal Action Network, called Arch to recommend they rule out EACOP, and regular protests have been held at Arch’s offices.
In the same week, AEGIS London also ruled out the controversial project as the project doesn’t meet their ESG policy. The total number of insurers ruling out EACOP now stands at 21. Both companies are members of the Lloyds of London insurance marketplace where it has been suggested that the companies behind EACOP (TotalEnergies and CNOOC) are seeking insurance.
The East Africa Crude Oil pipeline, or EACOP is a 1,443 kilometre pipeline planned for Uganda and Tanzania. It threatens to displace thousands of families and farmers from their land, severely degrade critical water resources and wetlands in both Uganda and Tanzania, and rip through numerous sensitive biodiversity hotspots. The oil transported via the pipeline would generate 34 million tons of carbon emissions each year. Local resistance against the project has been ongoing since 2017 as an international Stop EACOP campaign has led advocacy since 2020.
Omar Elmawi, Coordinator of #StopEACOP Coalition stated, "the number of banks (24) and (re) insurers staying away from EACOP is a clear indication that this pipeline and the associated oil fields will cause huge impacts to people, nature and climate if allowed to proceed. Supporting this project is supporting human rights violations and a carbon bomb that will be impossible to difuse once it goes ahead."
EACOP has been condemned by the European parliament for its associated human rights abuses in Uganda and Tanzania with arrests and indefinite detention of peaceful protestors taking place in October, forcing other insurers to distance themselves. The pipeline and associated Tilenga oil field are expected to displace almost 118,000 people in Uganda and Tanzania. And nearly a third of the pipeline would be built in the Lake Victoria Basin, on which more than 40 million people depend for their water and food production and where an oil spill would be disastrous.
The fake oil spill outside Arch’s offices was organised by Money Rebellion as part of a series of actions targeting ‘fossil fuel enablers’ across London, where different Extinction Rebellion groups targeted different organisations asking them to cut their ties with fossil fuels.
Rafela FitzHugh from Money Rebellion said: “We’re happy with Arch and AEGIS’ announcements, but people shouldn’t still have to push for change. With deadly weather destroying lives across the world, the insurance sector should be turning its back on all new fossil fuel projects now. Citizens resisting the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline in Uganda and Tanzania, are facing arrest and human rights abuses. We continue to stand with them and have written to Canopius Group, and Chaucer, to tell them to expect us on their door step soon if they don’t rule out insuring EACOP.”
A number of insurance companies contacted by the Stop EACOP campaign have offered no comment on their involvement. These include AIG, Tokio Marine Kiln, Brit, Canopius Group, Chubb, Liberty Mutual and Chaucer.
Isobel Tarr of Coal Action Network said “It’s clear that insurance companies want to avoid being implicated in this disastrous project, and that hundreds of people taking small actions can compel insurance companies to take a stand. If companies want to avoid coming under this kind of pressure then they need to adopt robust exclusion policies on all fossil fuels, and this includes Lloyd’s of London.”
With 24 major banks also ruling out support, the project developers have postponed the project’s financial close and are aiming for a new deadline of early 2023. This is not the first time the financing of the project has been delayed. The EACOP has now been delayed 3 years and counting.
Stop EACOP campaign advocates that instead of locking Uganda into a fossil fuel trap, financial actors should redirect their investments towards renewable energies. Instead of an economy that relies on multinationals extracting as much profit as possible, Uganda and Tanzania need an economy that is shaped and driven by local people and celebrates the people, biodiversity, heritage and natural landscapes of the region. An economy that provides quality jobs and long-term, sustainable financial security for young people, men and women. An economy that does not require the destruction of the environment, endangering wildlife, or driving families off the farmland on which they depend.
ENDS
Photos from XR Cut the Ties oil spill protest at Arch
https://show.pics.io/xr-global-media-breaking-news/search?tagId=637b658faab7680013dab7de
Notes to Editors
Who’s insuring the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline checklist
https://www.stopeacop.net/insurers-checklist
Who’s banking the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline checklist
https://www.stopeacop.net/banks-checklist
EACOP human rights / climate damages report (French)
EACOP in likely breach of IFC Performance Standards on Displacement & Risk to Livelihoods
https://www.banktrack.org/download/crude_risk/cruderisk_eacop_briefing_nov2020_1.pdf
BREAKING: Extinction Rebellion takes action at the offices of fossil fuel enablers across London
Analysing 30 leading primary insurers and reinsurers, assessing their policies on insuring and investing in coal, oil, gas, the 6th Annual Scorecard cuts through the greenwash and sorts the meanest from the greenest. The report highlights progress and loopholes, calls out leaders and laggards, and identifies challenges and opportunities for the year ahead.
The number of coal exit policies has grown from 35 to 41 this past year, with major US insurers known for their role in fossil fuels AIG and Travelers finally getting on board. The market share of insurers with coal exclusions has reached 62% in the reinsurance and 39% in the primary insurance markets.
In terms of new power stations, this is good news: according to the report many of the key laggards that are continuing to underwrite new coal projects lack the capacity and expertise involved in insuring complex large-scale new coal power plants.
There is still a lot of work to do: many companies still have no policies excluding coal, and some of those that do extend only to power stations and thermal coal mines, not coking coal mines. Meanwhile Lloyds of London's coal exclusion guideleines are non-mandatory, and they take on 40% of the global energy market.
Insurance company restrictions on oil and gas are only just starting to catch up with those on coal. The new report shows 13 companies have adopted oil and gas restrictions, compared with 41 on coal.
Be it in the IPCC’s 1.5°C report, the IEA’s Net Zero Roadmap or the One Earth Climate Model, climate scientists are clear that there is no space for any new coal, oil or gas projects in credible pathways to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Yet most insurance companies have not taken this scientific evidence on board and continue to offer support to projects and companies expanding oil and gas production
Some insurers like Liberty Mutual, Chubb and Tokio Marine have adopted some restrictions on coal but actively insure the expansion of the oil and gas industry.
For the second year running, companies were ranked on their policies of Free, Prior and Informed consent: i.e. do they support projects that are in conflict with communities, and respect the right of communities to say no?
In summary, very few of them commit to anything like this.
While Allianz and Swiss Re mention of the right to Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) in their policies, AXIS Capital was the first insurer to adopt an explicit policy “to not provide insurance coverage on projects undertaken on indigenous territories without FPIC” in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The policy marks an important breakthrough for the recognition of Indigenous rights and other insurers should emulate it.
“So far, there hasn’t been real regulatory pressure. And there hasn’t been market pressure … as in the short term, it’s still a profitable business. So we think public pressure has really made an essential difference”
- Lindsay Keenan, Insure Our Future (the Guardian)
As part of the StopEACOP Coalition, we've been mobilizing to persuade insurers at Lloyds of London to drop the contraversial East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline.
Not only does this make the pipeline harder to finance, it also informs insurance companies about the damaging impacts of oil and gas pipelines, and is part of the movement to shift the whole industry away from fossil fuels.Sign up here to commit taking regular action with us - it's easy to do from home!
Along with our partners in the #StopEACOP coalition, Coal Action Network has been targetting insurers to turn the tide on fossil fuel insurance. This month, QBE, Suncorp, Generali, Aspen and Helvetia stated that they will not be providing insurance support to the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
They follow five other insurance companies who ruled out the project in recent months, making 18 insurance companies who have ruled it out overall. QBE and Suncorp are two of Australia's biggest insurers. Generali is Italy's biggest insurer.
In addition, Italy’s largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo, Germany’s second largest bank DZ Bank, as well as Natixis from France, have joined the growing list of banks that have ruled out direct finance for the EACOP project, bringing the total to 24. Spanish bank Santander is also understood not to be financing the project, which would be precluded as part of the bank's Environmental, Social and Climate Change Risk Management Policy.
Is the EACOP project looking less and less viable? There are now no French banks backing EACOP (Total Energies being a French company), and these refusals are coming from the company's former backers.
“With so many of Total’s financiers out of the running to join the $2.5 billion project loan the EACOP needs to proceed, the pressure is growing on those few that remain. This includes South Africa’s Standard Bank, Japan’s SMBC and MUFG, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China, as well as UK’s Standard Chartered, which as chair of the Net Zero Banking Alliance should not be going anywhere near new oil projects of any kind, especially not one as mired in human rights and environmental damage as this.”
-Ryan Brightwell, Campaign Lead Banks and Human Rights at BankTrack
EACOP has been condemned by the European parliament for its associated human rights abuses in Uganda and Tanzania. The pipeline and associated Tilenga oil field are expected to displace almost 118,000 people in Uganda and Tanzania, and since last week nine peaceful protestors were arrested following a student-led peaceful demonstration against EACOP in Kampala, Uganda.
“Lending or underwriting to projects that are mired in human rights violations, lacking in free prior and informed consent is wrong, shameful and unacceptable. The (re)insurers and banks that are still considering or are committed to underwriting EACOP cannot claim innocence, they are on the side of the human rights violators and this therefore makes them complicit.”
-Omar Elmawi, co-ordinator of the StopEACOP
Many of the insurance companies which have failed to rule out insurance for EACOP have syndicates at Lloyd’s of London, where the companies behind EACOP have reportedly been looking for insurance cover. These include Arch, AIG, and Chubb to name a few. These insurers must rule out EACOP immediately, to stand against the human rights abuses that are taking place in the name of this climate-wrecking pipeline. Lloyd’s Council urgently needs to commit the marketplace to policies ruling out new fossil fuel projects in alignment with the science on keeping global temperatures below 1.5C warming.
Companies who have not responded to the campaign's requests for comment are:
Aegis London, AIG, Arch, Brit, Canopius, Chaucer, Chubb, Cincinnati, Liberty Mutual, Lancashire Syndicates and Tokio Marine Kiln.
All of these have syndicates at Lloyds of London. The Lloyds council is responsible for regulating the Lloyds Marketplace (see Lloyds explainer here), and could bring in measures to stop fossil fuel projects, and those with human rights abuses, from being targetted.
We can see these tactics are working. But we need all insurance companies to rule out EACOP, and stop the toxic pipeline at its source. Next, we want Arch insurance to rule it out, and we know that constant pressure works.
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