Insurance conference blockade heralds nationwide week of action
July 03, 2025 by Extinction Rebellion
- report shows real world success of insurance campaigns
- headline sponsor Axa’s reputation slips
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Supporters of Extinction Rebellion’s Insure Our Survival campaign have this morning (Thursday 3 July) blockaded the main entrance to the Energy Insurance London conference [1] in Blackfriars with a five-metre banner. The blockaders have one simple demand for the delegates: stop insuring new fossil fuel projects.
The protest comes at the start of a national wave of action against the insurance companies that are ensuring climate chaos by continuing to underwrite fossil fuels. [2]
This morning’s blockade has forced delegates to duck under the banner or walk around it to access the building. Samba drummers add to a jubilant and defiant atmosphere. XR supporters are inviting delegates, with flyers and business cards, to be “climate heroes” by joining a small but growing network [3] of insurance professionals helping to bring about a rapid transition away from fossil fuels.
The conference’s main sponsor Axa became a climate leader back in 2017 when it became the first insurer to start ruling out support for coal, but it’s reputation has slipped in recent years as it has not kept pace with developments and has failed to rule out support for new oil and gas [4]. Most controversially, Axa is amongst the insurers of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export terminals, which export fracked methane from the US Gulf Coast which is poisoning the groundwater of local communities. [5] If built, these terminals will export the equivalent of 239 coal plants’ worth of greenhouse gas annually [6, 7].
The conference covers a range of sources of energy, but it’s known as one of the oiliest events in the insurance calendar. One item on the agenda is a panel discussion entitled The Trump Effect and “Drill Baby, Drill”, saying “the return of President Trump to the White House has certainly reinvigorated the energy conversation worldwide” [8].
Earlier this month, a groundbreaking report showed the real-world impact of climate campaigns focusing on the insurance industry. The independent research shows that after insurers adopt formal exclusion policies, the number of insured coal mines drops by 16%, insured coal volumes fall by 56% and affected mines are more likely to scale down or shut entirely. The research was conducted by University of Zurich and the SFI Swiss Finance Institute using Freedom of Information searches. [9, 10, 11]
Also this month new analysis of tactics and strategies available to climate protectors, authored by the Social Change Lab highlighted the unique potential for campaigning on insurance to bring about change. [12]
One of the people blockading the entrance, Sue Hampton, 68, a grandma, Quaker and ex-teacher from Berkhamsted, said: “No matter how much we scale up renewable energy, that won’t stop climate breakdown. We need to rapidly phase-out of coal, oil and gas if we are going to have any chance of staying within the Paris Agreement targets which were agreed by the whole world. Insurance companies have a special opportunity and responsibility to withdraw support from all fossil fuel projects now. A managed transition is still possible.”
Another blockader, Alex Penson, 42, biologist from north London. said: “Coal, oil and gas projects are flooding and burning the world right now. We urge delegates to push for exclusion policies within their companies and connect with a growing network of insurance professionals doing this.”
Notes for editors
[1] Energy Insurance London: https://energyinsurancelondon.com
[2] Insure Our Survival Week of Action: https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2025/07/02/insure-our-survival-wave-of-action
[3] Insurance heroes network: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/insurance-heros/
[4] AXA 2024 Scorecard on Insurance, Fossil Fuels and the Climate Emergency: https://global.insure-our-future.com/scorecard/company/axa/
[5] Fracking and groundwater pollution: https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/fracking/
[6] REPORT: Risk Exposure: The insurers secretly backing the methane gas boom in the U.S. Gulf South: https://global.insure-our-future.com/the-2025-insurance-agm-season-continued-inaction-on-climate/
[7] The 2025 Insurance AGM Season: Continued Inaction on Climate: https://global.insure-our-future.com/the-2025-insurance-agm-season-continued-inaction-on-climate/
[8] Energy Insurance London Agenda https://energyinsurancelondon.com/agenda/
[9] Insurance Post: https://www.postonline.co.uk/news/7957953/research-shows-insurer-exclusions-are-forcing-coal-mine-closures
[10] University of Zurich Research Highlight: https://www.df.uzh.ch/en/news-events/news/2025/insurers-carbon-underwriting-policies.html
[11] Insurers’ Carbon Underwriting Policies: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5285182
[12] Strategies and tactics to curb the fossil fuel industry: https://www.socialchangelab.org/tactics-curb-fossil-fuel-corporations
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