BREAKING: Climate Activists Detained at the “Oscars of the Insurance Industry”
July 09, 2025 by Extinction Rebellion
“Insuring Disaster, Not Survival”
LONDON 9th July — Climate activists with the Insure Our Survival campaign disrupted the “Oscars of the insurance industry” British Insurance Awards at the Royal Albert Hall tonight, calling out the industry for profiting from climate chaos and genocide in Gaza, while pushing ordinary people to the brink.
Two activists were detained for several hours after getting into the venue and planning to take to the stage to drop a banner. Both have now been released and stand by their actions, saying: “Stop funding ecoside. Stop funding genocide.”
As the insurance elite gathered to celebrate their accomplishments this year, activists outside held a die-in on the red carpet, making it hard for attendees to enter. They added a theatrical “F***ing Up the Planet Awards” mocking the biggest insurers for:
- backing oil pipelines
- displacing communities
- insuring the largest arms exporters
- ignoring climate science
“These companies talk about resilience, but they’re the ones insuring oil pipelines while dropping cover for flood-hit homes,” said Lucy Porter, a spokesperson for Insure Our Survival. “They’re not part of the solution — they’re complicit in the collapse.”
🌊 Climate Collapse Hits Home: UK Flooding by the Numbers
- 5.7 million properties in England are currently at risk of flooding [1].
- In 2024 alone, the UK saw over £1.6 billion in insured flood losses, with thousands of families displaced [2].
- In Yorkshire, Cumbria, and South Wales, some households now face £2,000+ annual flood insurance premiums — or have been refused coverage entirely [3].
- Meanwhile, insurers continue to back new fossil fuel infrastructure that worsens the crisis, including the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and Arctic LNG 2 [4][5].
🇵🇸 War & Human Rights Abuses
AXA and Allianz have come under fire for financial and insurance ties to firms complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestine, including companies supplying bulldozers, weapons, and surveillance tech used in home demolitions and military operations [6][7].
“They insure against the destruction of homes abroad, and then leave homes here unprotected,” said another campaign spokesperson. “Their business model is a disaster — so long as it doesn’t affect their balance sheets.”
🏆 British Insurance Awards: A Celebration of Climate Hypocrisy
While the British Insurance Awards claim to reward “innovation and responsibility,” many winners continue to underwrite fossil fuel expansion — a direct violation of international climate goals [8].
Insurers and brokers being called out include:
- Lloyd’s of London — still insuring coal, tar sands, and Arctic oil through its syndicates [9].
- Chubb, AIG — major underwriters of extreme oil and gas projects around the world [10].
- AXA — linked to fossil fuel underwriting and arms-related human rights concerns [6].
- Marsh McLennan — brokers fossil fuel deals including pipelines and coal plants [11].
💀 A Celebration of Death & Destruction
Many insurers at the British Insurance Awards — including Allianz, Aviva, AXA, Zurich, AIG, RSA, Chubb, QBE, and Liberty Mutual — are not only complicit in climate chaos, but also profit from militarised violence.
They insure or invest in companies supplying military equipment to Israel, including:
- Boeing
- Lockheed Martin
- Elbit Systems
- Maersk (used in military logistics) [12][13][14]
📢 CALL TO ACTION: Insure People, Not Pollution
This crisis is personal. Flooding, fires, and heatwaves are here — and insurers are abandoning households while enabling destruction abroad.
It’s time to turn public anger into action.
👉 Join the campaign. Demand insurers drop fossil fuels.
👉 Expose their hypocrisy.
👉 Insure our survival — not collapse.
🔗 [Insure our Survival website]
📚 References
- Environment Agency – Flood Risk Management Plan Highlights:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flood-risk-management-plan-highlights - Association of British Insurers – 2024 Flood Losses:
https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2024/03/abi-publishes-flood-losses/ - The Guardian – UK Flooding Leaves Households with Soaring Insurance Bills:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/25/uk-flooding-home-insurance-premiums-cost - StopEACOP – List of Insurers:
https://www.stopeacop.net/insurers - Arctic LNG 2 Terminal – Global Energy Monitor
- Who Profits – The Israeli Occupation Industry
- – corporate occupation
- Underwriting the Transition: A deep-dive transition plan guide for insurance and reinsurance underwriting portfolios – United Nations Environment – Finance Initiative
- Insure Our Future – Lloyd’s Scorecard 2024:
Insure Our Future Global - Insure Our Future – Chubb and AIG Fossil Fuel Exposure:
Insure Our Future Global - BankTrack – Marsh McLennan and EACOP:
BankTrack – East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) - Don’t Buy Into Occupation – Corporate Complicity Report:
https://dontbuyintooccupation.org/ - AXA profiting off genocide:
AXA: Profiting off genocide - Corporate Watch – Elbit Systems Profile:
Elbit Systems Company Profile – Corporate Watch
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