Delegates at the annual British Insurers Brokers’ Association (BIBA) Conference at Manchester Central today where greeted by a colourful and dramatic protest from environmental groups demanding the industry to stop backing fossil fuel projects.
BIBA meets annually and their theme for 2025 is ‘A New Era’ . Amongst the guest speakers will be the former manager of the England men’s football team, Gareth Southgate .
The protest was organised by members of Extinction Rebellion, Friends of the Earth, Manchester Greenpeace, and the Insure Our Survival campaign, and featured a programme of dramatic and impactful visual activities which the delegates will be invited to engage with.
The protest began outside Manchester Central just after 8AM with the arrival of a life sized model of a Lamborghini sports car, made to look as though sinking in flood waters to highlight the danger of extreme weather events caused by climate crisis. The car has been converted into a James Corden style Karaoke booth where activists sang pop songs about extreme weather and encourage delegates to join them, do the right thing and abandon ties with insurance companies enabling fossil fuel projects.
There will later in the day be an appearance by the Oil Slicks, an Extinction Rebellion performance group who highlight the fact that fossil fuels must be kept in the ground and that urgent action is required to address climate crisis locally and across the globe.
The insurance industry has been the target of protest for several years due to the vital role that insurance plays in large fossil fuel projects, and this is the third year BIBA has been a target.
A recent report by several groups, including Friends of the Earth and Insure Our Survival, called Boycott Bloody Insurance showed that there are 33 British insurance companies active in large fossil fuel projects, and that just five companies had $6.5 billion invested.
Last month campaigners in Manchester celebrated the decision by Chubb to stop backing the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) (4). They had targeted Chubb’s offices in Manchester on several occasions, and in 2023 Patience Nabukalu, a young activist from Uganda, joined them (5). Marsh, who are the insurance brokers for EACOP, will be attending BIBA.
Martin Porter said “Large fossil fuel projects can’t go ahead without insurance. Unlike the oil companies, who publicly deny the science and have no other game they play, insurance companies know the risks of climate inaction and are seeing their entire business model threatened by extreme weather from climate change.
“BIBA needs to decide if ‘A New Era’ means floods, fires, heat waves and climate chaos, or one where brokers refuse to cover carbon bomb projects. We are call on each and every one of delegates to become climate heroes themselves and to help change their industry.”
