CHRISTIAN campaigners have descended on insurers’ head offices across central London this week to urge them to stop underwriting new fossil-fuel projects.
In April, the Zurich Insurance Group announced that it would no longer offer insurance for new oil and gas projects and that it would urge customers with high carbon emissions to reduce them.
This week, members of Christian Climate Action have been calling on more firms to follow suit. On Monday, campaigners occupied the lobby of the insurer Hiscox UK while others prayed outside. The Revd Sue Parfitt, 82, was among them. She said: “The insurance industry is a key cog driving the machine of climate change, providing cover for increased gas and oil production. If we are to stop this climate emergency, we need insurance companies to refuse to insure new fossil-fuel projects.
“As a Christian, I can’t stand by and watch God’s beautiful creation be destroyed by greed and selfishness. Being a disciple means that I stand up for my brothers and sisters already suffering the effects of global heating. Today, I’m praying and acting, urging these insurance companies to stop facilitating the destruction of our world.”
Besides occupying the headquarters of more than ten insurance companies in London, campaigners also marched through the City from Lloyds of London to the Gherkin, home of the insurer Swiss Re. The marchers were raising the issue of climate change’s effect on food shortages in the global South and the UK.
A study by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit last year found that climate change and high fossil-fuel prices were adding £605 in food costs to the average UK household, compared with 2021.
Among the protesters this week was Nicholas Omonuk, 25, an Anglican from Uganda. He said: “We are facing the worst impacts of the climate crisis that are being escalated by big oil corporations with the support of insurance companies. We are suffering the worst impacts of climate change, yet we are the least responsible for it. We cannot talk about a just transition away from fossil fuels if the corporations responsible are continuing to make it worse.”
This week, faith leaders delivered a letter to the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, calling on him to ensure that the UK paid its fair share into a fund newly created to help communities suffering climate-related loss and damage.
The letter was signed by the Bishop of Reading, the Rt Revd Olivia Graham; the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salford, the Rt Revd John Arnold; the Recording Clerk of Quakers in Britain, Paul Parker; and the director of policy and public campaigns at Christian Aid, Osai Ojigho, as well as representatives of other organisations and religious groups.
The letter says: “Our message, inspired by the imperative to preserve all life and ensure justice, is simple: if the new Labour Government is serious about restoring the UK’s role as a leader on climate action among wealthy nations, you must put into practice the Polluter Pays principle. This means making the heaviest polluters pay for the Loss and Damage their activities have caused.”