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Protestors have targeted AIG offices across Australia this afternoon, calling on the insurance giant to rule out coverage for the Adani coal mine.
Organised by advocacy group Sum of Us, the protest aims to apply further pressure to AIG, which is one of the few remaining firms yet to deny coverage to the controversial mine.
“There are now 14 insurance companies which have either directly ruled out insuring the Adani mine or have excluded themselves through their coal policies – so the writing is on the wall for AIG,” said campaign manager Nick Haines.
Activists gathered inside the lobby of the company’s Sydney headquarters to deliver a petition with almost 110,000 signatures. Meanwhile, a mobile billboard circled the inner Sydney office and protestors took action simultaneously at AIG’s Melbourne and Brisbane locations.
Speaking to Insurance Business, Haines said insuring the project would not only lead to an environmental catastrophe, it would also cause significant disruption in the insurance market.
“We know that climate change related disasters will push up premiums and leave millions of people unprotected,” he said. “But companies like AIG are refusing to acknowledge the central role insurance companies are playing in creating this climate catastrophe by underwriting fossil fuel projects.”
Haines also acknowledged that it’s easy for the general public to feel powerless against corporate giants – but said brokers are in a particularly strong position to influence AIG’s stance.
“If people move with their feet, it signals how unpalatable this project is,” he said. “We’d encourage brokers to send their business elsewhere – to one of the many insurance companies which have already ruled themselves out, rather than to those who are staying silent.”
Of course, AIG isn’t the first major insurer to be targeted by protests – in June, following a months-long public campaign, Liberty Mutual confirmed it would not be offering coverage to the mine.
“Without insurance, companies like Adani cannot continue to wreck the planet,” said Haines. “AIG has a chance to be on the right side of history.”
Insurance Business contacted AIG, but representatives declined to comment.
