Christians occupy Hiscox HQ urging them not to rule out insuring fossil fuel projects
Monday October 28
Photos available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DLfe7_ql-Mj4_9ia5ttOuVn42JNarH5Y
Today Christians occupied the lobby of insurance company Hiscox in London, calling on the company to stop insuring all new oil, gas and coal projects.
Five protestors occupied the Hiscox lobby, with police soon arriving on the scene. Once inside, the group used a mobile phone to set up a video online prayer meeting and prayed with Christians across the UK for insurance companies to stop insuring fossil fuel projects. They also held up signs, including one reading “Insure Our Survival”, and one reading “We are here in peaceful protest. We are not here to obstruct or intimidate.”
Members of Christian Climate Action also stood outside the building in prayer, alongside people from different faiths. That morning the group also delivered a letter to the Hiscox CEO calling on her to end the underwriting of fossil fuel projects.
This action is part of a wider day of action in the capital, with groups also targeting ten insurance companies, including Ascot and Chauser. Campaigners are using the protest to highlight the link between the fossil fuel industry and food shortages. The average UK food bill has gone up by around £605 over the last two years, with a third of 2023 food price increases in the UK being due to climate change [1]. This year’s harvest in England was the second worst on record because of wet weather, with the harvest of staple crops generally down 21% [2].
Previous protests of this nature at the start of the year resulted in major insurer Zurich no longer underwriting new oil and gas projects [3].
Rev Sue Parfitt was part of the team praying outside Hiscox HQ. 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”
Mark Francis was also part of the group outside the Hiscox building today. He said: “We are asking Hiscox to play a key role in facilitating a speedy and urgent transition to renewable energy, by ceasing to underwrite all new oil and gas projects. We are calling on them to insure survival, and not collapse.”
Gill Slater is a Catholic and a grandma, who took part in the action today. She said “I’m a Catholic gran desperate for the change we need. Pope Francis refers to the destruction of the environment as ‘an offence against God’ and a ‘structural sin’ that endangers all people. Insurance is integral to development – be that destructive fossil fuel activities such as EACOP or the potential powerful force of resilience and adaptation projects. I bring my prayer today to this powerful insurance company to ask them to use their power to create what the Pope describes as a new financial architecture which takes us from climate crisis to climate resilience”.
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NOTES
[3] https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2024/04/08/768377.htm
Christian Climate Action 