Protesters occupy the offices of City Of London insurers demanding they rule out backing for climate-wrecking projects

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.