Following a week of protests, Cincinnati Global’s syndicate at Lloyd’s confirmed that it will not insure the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, which has been the subject of international protests.
(Nick Chalk), Active Underwriter with Cincinnati at Lloyd’s confirmed verbally with a member of the Insure our Future campaign, “We 100% do not write this project and we have no intention of ever writing it.”
“Thousands of Ekō and Coal Action Network members sent over 4 millions of emails, thousands of tweets and hundreds of phone calls to 3,140 Lloyd’s managing agents staff, demonstrating to the insurers the unfailing mobilization of people worldwide against the coverage of the shameful EACOP and any new destructive fossil projects, said Leyla Larbi, of international NGO Ekō.”
Talbot (AIG) at Lloyd’s, which has been equally targeted, also by street demonstrations, did not make a statement. Parent company AIG was also targeted the same week by protests at its New York headquarters on EACOP.
Isobel Tarr of Coal Action Network said “The pressure will continue to grow on Talbot and AIG to get them to commit to ruling out EACOP. When their counterparts in the Lloyd’s marketplace have started to rule out this monstrous pipeline, Talbot’s silence starts to sound like complicity with the project and all its associated climate impacts and human rights abuses.”
Following these protests, more accounts of associated human rights abuses have surfaced, as a French civil court heard the case against Total’s conduct brought by African Civil Society organisations. Witnesses detailed the French oil giant’s forceful acquisition of land and property leaving families without food. The case was ruled inadmissible on a technicality.
Meanwhile, community leaders in Uganda have reported an escalation in ‘phsychological torture’, by the Ugandan state, including harrasment and detentions, as the French oil company Total Energies and the Chinese state company CNOOC are moving ahead with the oilfields and pipeline projects.
Baraka Lenga, of the Tanzanian chapter of the international multi-faith network GreenFaith, said: “We applaud Cincinnati Global’s syndicate at Lloyd’s for taking a stand and refusing to insure the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline. Their decision sends a strong message that the environmental and human rights impacts of this project cannot be ignored. However, Talbot’s silence in response to the protests is concerning. We urge them and AIG to listen to the concerns of local communities and to prioritize the protection of people and the planet above profit.”
