Highlighting a week of protests and actions in London and across the UK focused on the “Achilles heel” of the fossil fuel industry setting our planet on fire: their insurers.
Extinction Rebellion’s (XR) major national campaign, demanding that the insurance industry stops insuring the climate criminals setting the world on fire, hit the streets of Bournemouth. For three days at the end of October 2024, thousands of people supporting XR’s ‘Insure Our Survival’ campaign have staged high-profile protests and actions in the City of London calling upon insurers to stop insuring all new oil, gas and coal projects.
On November 1, the action moved into towns and cities across the UK, as Bournemouth activists targeted the Howden Insurance Brokers office in the Triangle. XR-BCP’s Rhythms drummers brought the noise and energy to the demonstration, which started at 8:30am and finished at 10am. Protestors held aloft placards and created chalk slogans, whilst chanting “Stop Insuring Climate Criminals”.
Daniel Glennon, a customer service professional from Bournemouth and Extinction Rebellion BCP spokesperson, said:
“Insurance is the Achilles heel of the global fossil fuel industry. It’s what gives oil, gas and coal companies the confidence to dig and drill as the planet burns – by covering their operations against financial losses when things go wrong.
“Without insurance, major oil and gas companies cannot operate, and climate-wrecking oil, gas, and coal exploration, production and distribution will fail to go ahead. Just 20 companies insure 70 per cent of fossil fuel projects.”
Christel Lindner, a registered nurse also from Bournemouth, added:
“Howden is one of the UK insurance industry’s masters of greenwash. They loudly and publicly trumpet their commitment to ‘sustainability’ – while quietly expanding the parts of their business that insure the fossil fuel crooks to keep digging and drilling for climate-wrecking oil, gas and coal.
“Howden Insurance Group’s loud public boasts about sustainability and climate action hide a large deadly secret: they only intend to be ‘carbon neutral’ by 2030 on their own operations. That’s the emissions from their offices, NOT the emissions from the many dirty oil, gas and coal projects that they insure all over the world.
“Behind a flood of greenwash, Howden is going full speed ahead to expand its insurance of fossil fuel criminals who are wrecking the climate, burning down our planet, flooding our homes, and threatening to kill billions in the process.”
In response to the protest, Howdens closed their Triangle office for the morning, with signs saying their customers could still reach them by telephone.
XR’s ‘Insure Our Survival’ campaign has already made the insurance industry sit up, take notice and act. In February 2024, thousands of XR activists, acting alongside a global campaign coalition called ‘Insure Our Future’, staged a week-long series of actions across the world. After repeated mass visits to the offices of insurers in the City of London and in towns and cities across the UK, giant global insurers Zurich announced that they would no longer insure new oil and gas projects.
Kathy Chambers, retired and also from Bournemouth concluded:
“We know the insurance industry is listening. Generali, Italy’s biggest insurer, has just announced an ambitious policy and becomes the first major insurer to limit insurance to midstream and downstream oil and gas including LNG infrastructure.
“Insurance is an industry that isn’t used to being targeted by protest, and that cracks under pressure when it’s faced with public scrutiny and reputational damage.”
