As part of Insure Our Future’s ‘Global Week of Action’, Extinction Rebellion members and local campaigners are set to gather outside AXA’s office in Reading from 8:30am today. The morning action at 9 Greyfriars Road follows Thursday’s protest outside the French insurer’s UK headquarters in London.
“Last year, AXA committed to no longer insuring new gas fields, but this commitment will not come into force until 2025 and AXA is weakening its commitment by allowing exemptions for new oil and gas fields as long as they are developed by companies with a ‘transition plan’,” Extinction Rebellion said in an emailed release.
“According to Insure Our Future’s scorecard, AXA has fallen from being ranked second in 2021 (first being the best for restrictions on oil and gas insurance) to ninth in 2023. Yet AXA claims to be ‘passionate about protecting what matters’. What matters is our planet and its inhabitants.
“There is agreement among climate scientists that new or expanded fossil fuel projects threaten the future of human life on earth. Extreme weather events across the world (like recent storms and flooding in and around Reading) are costing billions. Investing in adaptation and resilience is critical to combat these rising costs, and the insurance industry is uniquely placed to support and reward such investment.”
Taking place until March 3, the global initiative commenced with a Mothers Rise Up theatrical demonstration outside Lloyd’s HQ on Monday. An advocacy coalition consisting of non-government organisations and social movements, Insure Our Future is demanding that insurance giants stop insuring fossil fuels while playing an active role in a just transition.
“Governments, businesses, and other actors all need to urgently scale up their efforts to avert an unmanageable climate breakdown,” Insure Our Future told insurers in a letter to chief executives in 2023. “Insurers, as society’s risk managers, have a special responsibility to act and the power to drive change: without insurance most new fossil fuel projects cannot go ahead and existing ones cannot continue to operate.”
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