Climate protestors to hold demo against Banbury company 'involved in fossil fuels'
Climate protestors are to hold a demonstration as a ‘warning’ to a Banbury company they say is involved in insuring fossil fuel culprits.
The Banbury branch of Extinction Rebellion (XR) will be in the Market Place on Thursday between 2.30pm – 3.30pm flagging up the involvement of the Howden Group in insurance of coal, gas and oil projects.
For three days this week, thousands of people supporting XR’s ‘Insure Our Survival’ campaign are staging high-profile protests and actions in the City of London, calling on insurers to stop insuring all new oil, gas and coal projects.
Howden, which has a regional office in the centre of Banbury, says it has more impact by working with its clients to accelerate their decarbonisation than by disengaging from them.
In towns and cities across the UK, activists are targeting key insurers including Howden.
The Banbury group said: “Howden Group continues to underwrite the operations and infrastructure of the oil, gas and coal industries. This is despite an overwhelming scientific consensus that increased use of fossil fuels is exacerbating the climate crisis,” said a spokesman for Banbury XR.
“With increasing numbers of deadly heat waves and floods driven by the climate crisis predicted for the UK and other countries this year, XR’s actions are designed highlight the link between insurers and the death and destruction caused by their fossil fuel clients.”
Jim Smith from XR Banbury said: "We do not want to be doing this. We believe that the experience, talent and skill of the global insurance industry has a key role to play in facilitating a speedy and urgent transition by 2030 to renewable energy.”
And member Jane Rogers said: “We hope the local branch will support us and lobby the Howden Group to agree to our single demand - publicly announce an immediate, complete and permanent withdrawal from underwriting all new oil, gas and coal projects.”
XR says its Insure Our Survival campaign has already made the insurance industry ‘sit up, take notice and act’. In February, thousands of XR activists, acting alongside global campaign coalition Insure Our Future, staged a week-long series of actions across the world.
“After repeated mass visits to the offices of insurers in the City of London and in towns and cities across the UK, giant global insurers Zurich announced that they would no longer insure new oil and gas projects,” the group said.
A spokesman for Howden told the Banbury Guardian: “We are aware of protest action targeting a number of UK insurance companies this week. We have taken steps to ensure the security of our premises and the safety of our employees and visitors.
“Howden is committed to playing an active role in the transition to net zero and we believe that we can have more impact by working with clients to accelerate their decarbonisation than by disengaging from them. We have invested significantly in developing the solutions and driving the change needed for our industry to play its crucial role in de-risking both the continued development of alternative energy sources and the decarbonisation of existing.”