Zurich insurers rule out new oil and gas
'Many Friends were involved in the week-long witness, which included forming a human chain around the Lloyd’s of London insurance market.'
Quakers welcomed an announcement from Zurich Insurance Group that it would not cover any new oil and gas extraction, or new metallurgical coal projects.
According to the Quaker-supported Insure Our Future campaign, the policy shift is in ‘direct response’ to its Global Week of Action, which saw thousands of activists target Zurich and other insurers in thirty-one countries around the world. Many Friends were involved in the week-long witness, which included forming a human chain around the Lloyd’s of London insurance market.
Some campaigners also occupied the headquarters of Probitas, which last month said it would not insure the East African Crude Oil Pipeline or the West Cumbria Mine.
‘We’re so pleased at this success for the Insure Our Future campaign,’ said Quakers in Britain on X. ‘We hope other companies will take Zurich’s lead and stop insuring new oil and gas projects.’
According to Insure Our Future, Zurich is ‘the final major European insurer exiting oil and gas expansion’. Peter Bosshard, finance programme director at the Sunrise Project, a climate justice charity, explained over social media why the move was so significant. ‘Zurich is the sixth biggest fossil fuel insurer with annual premiums from oil and gas of an estimated $510m. With Zurich, ALL big European insurers have now stopped insuring the expansion of oil and gas.’
‘This creates a new benchmark for responsible insurance,’ he added, calling other fossil fuel insurers in the US (for example, AIG Insurance), in Asia (Tokio Marine), and on the Lloyd’s market (Hiscox Group) to ‘follow suit or face increased public pressure’.
Sierra Signorelli, chief executive of commercial insurance at Zurich, said the decision was in line with the insurer’s overall goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. ‘Further exploration and development of fossil fuels isn’t required for the transition,’ she said. ‘We think it’s the right time to evolve our position.’
The policy update is limited to new fossil-fuel projects, and Zurich will continue to underwrite existing ones. The new policy also entails ‘asking the highest-emitting corporate customers to reduce their carbon footprints’, it was reported in Bloomberg.
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