Mothers created a song and dance extravaganza outside Lloyd’s of London HQ today (Monday 13 June 2022) to urge the insurance giant to stop jeopardising children’s futures by underwriting damaging fossil fuel projects. It was a protest like no other, with Mary Poppins meeting climate action.
The action comes just a few weeks after a face-to-face meeting the organisers – Mothers Rise Up and Parents For Future UK – had with Chair of Lloyd’s Bruce Carnegie-Brown, and as the second week of the UN climate conference in Bonn gets underway.
"A few weeks ago, we met with Bruce Carnegie-Brown, looked him in the eyes and urged him to take faster action on climate for the sake of our children and children worldwide. Now we're back and more determined than ever to use every ounce of creativity we’ve got to get this message through. Lloyd’s is a corporate goliath but is nothing compared to the unstoppable force of a mother's love for her kids. We will not give up until Lloyd’s drops its insurance of deadly fossil fuels.”
The event took inspiration from the Let’s Go Fly a Kite scene in Mary Poppins, where work obsessed Dad, George Banks, has an epiphany and realises that his children are all that really matters.
The mothers hope the action will inspire Lloyd’s Chair, Bruce Carnegie-Brown, and Lloyd’s CEO, John Neal, to have their own epiphany and take more ambitious climate action for the sake of all children.
Lloyd’s of London insures 40% of the global energy market, including fossil fuel projects that other companies won’t touch because of their colossal climate impacts.
It has refused to rule out insuring the proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). If completed, the 900-mile-long pipeline will devastate communities and nature across Uganda and Tanzania and generate 34 million tons of carbon a year. To date, Lloyd’s has failed to meet African civil society campaigning to stop EACOP.
The action was performed by a team of professional dancers alongside families and children. It was choreographed by a leading choreographer Denni Sayers and theatre director Phoebe Barran, who are also mothers.
"Like many mothers, I am concerned about what climate change means for my children - and all children around the world. This bright and colourful dance aims to draw the attention of people passing by Lloyd’s of London, to look up from their everyday busyness and begin to work towards a cleaner, brighter future for all.”
The song “Let’s Make Insurance Bright” is a reworked version of the original with lyrics that urge Lloyd’s to pioneer ethical insurance and drop fossil fuels.
The dancers dressed in business suits to blend into the city landscape before bursting into song and dance. Children and adults flew colourful model kites and held placards calling on Lloyd’s to take concrete climate action.
The International Energy Agency has warned that there can be no new fossil fuel infrastructure, if we are to have a fighting chance of a safe climate.
After the action outside Lloyd’s the mothers headed to Allianz to thank that company for showing climate leadership by ending new fossil fuel insurance.
