Running for cover

Back in July 2022 I wrote a post here titled The insurance trap. The post dealt with transition commitments being made by some of the world’s biggest insurance companies, which included curbing the amount of business done with oil and gas companies. But only with the irresponsible ones.

The responsible ones would have a net-zero plan to show their insurers and the insurers would be only too happy to provide coverage for the net zero-tied projects of those companies.

As we know, things always change and insurance is no exception. Since 2022, the amount of weather-related claims insurers have had to face has increased significantly — and so has pressure from activists for insurers to cut off any and all coverage for oil and gas projects.

In February, the news broke that 28 insurance companies, including some of the biggest in the industry, had declared they would not provide coverage for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline — after a solid dose of environmentalist protests, of course.

Then, in March, Extinction Rebellion, the rabid anti-oil activists, staged a one-week pressure campaign against insurers to make them stop covering oil and gas. I wrote an article about it for Oilprice earlier today but I want to delve deeper because these are highly fragrant waters we’re talking about — perfect for a swim.