Extinction Rebellion’s Insure Our Survival campaign kept up the pressure on delegates to the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) – Europe’s largest insurance brokers conference – with a colourful, day-long dramatic protest demanding they boycott deals with fossil fuel insurers and fossil fuel projects.

Sarah Brown, from XR Macclesfield, explained the role insurance companies play in facilitating the climate crisis. “Any big fossil fuel projects, pipeline, coal mine, whatever it is, they all need insurance companies to back them. So if you get the insurance companies to say they won’t back them, you can’t have any more fossil fuel projects.”

Extinction Rebellion’s Insure Our Survival campaign organised the day of action in collaboration with Friends of the Earth, Manchester Greenpeace and other groups. Local and insurance industry press were on site and featured our protest in their stories: Morning Star, Insurance Times (and a second story here), Insurance Post, Trading View, The Canary, About Manchester, and Insurance Edge. This is the third year that BIBA has been targeted by protesters and, ironically, their theme this year was “A New Era”. 

The day of dramatic and impactful activities included a climate choir, samba drummers, street theatre, a synchronised dance known as Disobedience, and testimonies from people affected by extreme weather. 

Disruption started in the morning outside Manchester Central Convention Centre, beginning with the arrival of a life-sized model of a Lamborghini sports car, creatively designed to look as though it were sinking in floodwaters – highlighting the danger of extreme weather events caused by the climate crisis. The car was then converted into a karaoke booth, with activists singing pop songs about extreme weather and encouraging delegates to join in.

The Oil Slicks also made an appearance, an Extinction Rebellion performance group who highlight the dangers of oil spills to wildlife, the dangers of burning fossil fuels to all life on Earth, and the need for urgent action to keep fossil fuels in the ground to save lives.

Activists had conversations with over 100 delegates throughout the day and gave out hundreds of leaflets encouraging BIBA staff to become climate heroes.

Sarah Brown described the mixed response: “Some people were very supportive and keen to tell us that they don’t think their company is insuring fossil fuels now, that they are instead insuring net zero projects, cleaner energy. Then, there were a lot of people who were just not that interested – bowing their head, trying to ignore you… And, unfortunately, still a few people who didn’t see caring for the climate as their job. One guy said ‘I’m not a moral guardian’. But it’s good to be having the conversation. They’re people like us, with families, who are worried about the climate crisis and we’re giving them permission to speak about it. They may never be on the streets with us, but if they can have influence from the inside, that’s what we’re aiming for.”

Activists later heard from someone inside the conference that the protest was the number one topic of conversation in the food and drink queues.

Climate activists around the globe have been focusing their protests on the insurance companies that are enabling fossil fuel expansion. Last month campaigners in Manchester celebrated the decision by Chubb to rule out backing the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). [ref] They had targeted Chubb’s offices in Manchester on several occasions and in 2023 Patience Nabukalu, a young activist from Uganda, joined them.

Martin Porter, a spokesperson for the coalition organising the action said: “The insurance industry, whilst it makes a profit from these projects, makes a loss on the consequences of climate change, having to pay out for the floods, the fires, and the consequences of extreme weather. 

“Unlike the fossil fuel industry, the insurance industry does not deny the science. They understand the risks of not taking action. That’s why we think they should be our top allies in dealing with the problem, not making it worse.”

Sign up for future Insure Our Survival actions happening both in London and a town near you over the coming months.