Adani’s Insurer and Lloyd’s of London Syndicate Apollo has dropped Adani’s Carmichael coal project after pressure from the community and #StopAdani movement. Apollo confirmed that the insurer will not provide cover for Adani’s coal mine, rail project or coal port after their current construction policy terminates in September 2021.
This news came as more than 1,700 people across the Pacific Islands, Australia and around the world have called on insurance marketer Lloyd’s of London to rule out insurance for Adani’s Carmichael coal project in Australia in an online rally, yesterday co-hosted by the Stop Adani campaign and Pacific Climate Warriors.
This demand follows the action on 27 October when volunteers with the Insure our Future campaign delivered two giant postcards to Lloyd’s CEO John Neal at Lloyd’s London HQ, in a movement of global solidarity with the Stop Adani campaign and the Pacific Climate Warriors.
Inangaro Vakaafi, Pacific Climate Warriors Polynesian Council of Elders member, said: “We are pleased that another Lloyd’s of London insurer has dropped Adani’s dangerous coal project, and we demand that Lloyd’s of London acts immediately to protect the Pacific by ruling out insurance for Adani’s coal project. Mining and burning coal from Adani’s coal mine wrecks our chances to protect our Pacific homelands from climate change impacts, especially rising sea levels and storms which threaten us more and more every year. As Pacific people, we will continue to fight for our homes, our ways of life and our communities.”
For over an hour, participants contacted Lloyd’s and their insurers through phone, calendar invites, and social media, and asked them to follow the lead of 27 major insurance companies, including several other Lloyd’s syndicates to insure our future not Adani’s coal. In total, participants sent more than 900 calendar invites to the CEOs of Lloyd’s insurers, made 500 direct phone calls and tweeted more than 3,000 #LloydsInsureOurFuture posts causing the hashtag to trend on Twitter in Australia.
If built, Adani’s Carmichael mine will further impact Australia and Pacific people’s’ lives, who are already facing the effects of climate change. It will also destroy the ancestral lands, waters, and cultures of Indigenous Peoples, damage the Great Barrier Reef and aquifers in Queensland and add 4.6 billion tonnes of carbon pollution to our atmosphere.
Lloyd’s has confirmed that some of its members started insuring Adani’s coal mine in 2019 but refuses to name the members involved. Lloyd’s also so far refuses to put in place a market-wide policy excluding all of its members from insuring new coal mines, despite the climate science and the fact that most other leading insurers have such a policy in place.
Exactly which Lloyd’s members are still insuring or plan to insure Adani is unclear and the subject of significant interest and concern. The Stop Adani campaign has been contacting Lloyd’s members one by one to rule them out. It is now focused on several remaining members, including Arch, Brit, Hamilton Group, STARR, Lancashire, MAP, and WR Berkley.
About the Pacific Climate Warriors Council of Elders
The Council of Elders consists of two representatives from each region (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia), two representatives from the Pacific Diaspora and a single youth representative. At its inception, the Council of Elders are the decision-makers giving guidance and direction to the Pacific Climate Warriors’ work.
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