Challenge
Insurance marketplace Lloyd's of London is one of the world's biggest insurers of fossil fuels. To accelerate the global phase-out of fossil fuels, Lloyd’s must end cover for coal power plants and mines and tar sands pipelines. Lloyd's must also be brought under public scrutiny, creating reputational risk of continued involvement in the fossil fuel sector.
Solution
We held a protest action outside Lloyd’s of London headquarters, on the day it re-opened following a 6-month closure due to COVID-19. We showed employees the damage done to the climate by fossil fuel projects insured by the Lloyd’s market, and urged their syndicates to 'wash their hands of coal and tar sands' by adopting an exclusion policy.
Result
We secured national and international media coverage of the event, including Reuters, New York Times, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Evening Standard and City AM. Photography from the protest was shared on the Reuters picture wire, and our campaign on social saw 30K impressions on the IOF Twitter page.
Impact
Since the protest action, Lloyd’s has set a market-wide policy to stop new insurance cover for coal, oil sands and Arctic energy projects by January 2022, and to pull out of the business altogether by 2030. Several Lloyd’s syndicates have also ruled out underwriting the Adani Carmichael coal mine in Australia, meaning Adani may now have to self-insure.