Just like you need insurance to drive a car, fossil fuel companies need insurance to build and operate their infrastructure. That’s why they’re such a critical target in the fight against climate chaos. No insurance = no more fossil fuel projects. During the first-ever Global Week of Action against Insurers on February 26 – March 3, 2024, people worldwide—from the United Kingdom to Uganda—gathered to hold insurers accountable for their significant role in the climate crisis and demand they stop insuring fossil fuels.
The movement against methane gas
Chubb, Liberty Mutual, and AIG are among the lead US insurers behind the methane gas boom in US Gulf South and we’re calling them out, and so are thousands of people across the world taking action in solidarity with people fighting terminals in their communities.
Not only do these companies profit off of methane terminals, they’re also withdrawing insurance from the associated risks of climate change that result from them! Rather than protecting people from disaster, they’re leaving individuals, homeowners, and entire communities in the lurch, favoring the very industry-driving climate chaos.
The insurance industry MUST stop insuring the companies and projects that increase our risks of climate disasters and protect people, not polluters!
Actions across five continents!
There were over 100 actions across 31 countries, with thousands of frontline community leaders, activists, organizations, and allies taking to the streets calling for just climate action.
In the US alone, we had 18 actions spanning from coast to coast:
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado
- Columbus, Ohio
- Hartford, Connecticut
- Houston, Ingleside, and Plano, Texas
- Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Francisco, California
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- New York, New York
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Portland, Oregon
Our flagship actions took place in New York City and Houston, Texas. In New York, an eleven-person Gulf Coast frontline delegation led a crowd of over a hundred through the streets of midtown Manhattan, stopping at the headquarters of Chubb, Toikio Marine, and Sompo. The march ended with a rally at AIG, where we heard speeches from Gulf leaders, youth organizers, NY residents impacted by Superstorm Sandy, and a Ugandan activist fighting the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
In the heart of oil country—Houston, Texas—tens of community organizers from the frontlines of methane gas expansion in the Gulf South and allies came together to call out insurers. Their powerful calls for change filled the lobbies of both Chubb and AIG.
How online actions amplified the voices in the streets
Hundreds of thousands of people made sure that these companies felt the pressure from every angle by taking part in online actions from Twitter storms to Google reviews to calendar jams. Not only do we ensure that we pressure our targets from every angle by incorporating online and direct action, but they work together to show these corporations just how powerful our movements are. For example, at Chubb HQ in NYC, Gulf leaders hand-delivered a petition with over 350,000 messages to Chubb and their peers to stop insuring methane gas in the Rio Grande Valley.
The largest grassroots mobilization of the insurance campaign!
The first-ever Insurance Global Week of Action against Fossil Fuels was the largest grassroots mobilization of the insurance campaign. The collective power of this worldwide action has put insurers on notice: several have since made public statements and commitments to modify their harmful practices or contacted campaigners with invites to the discussion table.
But just because the week is over doesn’t mean we are. We won’t stop until these companies insure our future — not fossil fuels! Let’s remind them that we’re not done yet.
