British and African Quakers urge ‘no’ to East African pipeline
'The letter adds Quaker voices to the 100 organisations who wrote to Lloyd’s last year on the issue.'
Quakers from Britain and Africa are calling on Lloyd’s of London to advise its members against insuring the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
In an open letter, Paul Parker, recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), and Bainito Wamalwa, Africa section clerk of Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), asked for a meeting with the world’s leading insurance market to discuss its action on climate change. They urged Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Lloyd’s chairman, and John Neal, Lloyd’s chief executive – whose members insure a large proportion of the global energy sector – to stop insuring new oil and gas development.
Writing on the Quakers in Britain website, BYM said: ‘The Lloyd’s market has a decisive role to play in preventing the destruction that EACOP would cause, including annual CO2 emissions 25 times that of its host countries, Uganda and Tanzania, combined.
‘More than 100,000 people will lose the land they farm, and because of low-cost construction techniques and an earthquake zone, the critical freshwater source of the Lake Victoria basin will be at risk of pollution.’
The letter adds Quaker voices to the 100 organisations who wrote to Lloyd’s last year on the issue. Increasing numbers of insurers globally are adopting oil and gas restrictions in response to campaigns.
BYM said that, in Africa, which contributes only two to three per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the climate is warming faster than the global average.
Heat waves, floods, prolonged droughts, tropical cyclones and sea level rise are causing death and injury, damaging houses and livelihoods, and forcing people to leave their homes.
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