Faith voices call on insurer Tokio Marine to stop backing new fossil fuel projects
Faith representatives have sent a letter to fossil fuel insurer Tokio Marine calling on them to stop insuring new fossil fuel projects.
The letter, coordinated by Quakers in Britain, comes a year after the first Global Week of Action for the campaign Insure Our Future, which saw people around the world calling on the insurance industry to be part of the shift to a greener, fairer future.
2024 was the first year to exceed 1.5 degrees of warming, and it was the UK's warmest spring on record. As global temperatures creep up, Quakers believe it is vital that we do not build more fossil fuel infrastructure that could keep us burning oil and gas for decades. While governments and people must do all they can to limit climate breakdown, we also need to see leadership from companies who have a role in continuing fossil fuel extraction.
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We believe it is important for those of us with the power to influence investment choices to use this power responsibly to shape our future.
- Faith representatives' letter
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During the 2024 Week of Action, Quakers and other faith groups wrote open letters to Tokio Marine and other insurers and held a vigil outside insurance marketplace Lloyd's of London. It also marked the formation of StopEACOPScot, a group of Scottish Quakers who gathered with the aim of preventing construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
Since the 2024 Week of Action, the group have written to insurer Tokio Marine on four separate occasions asking the insurer to rule out underwriting the project. So far, Tokio Marine have not responded.
Tokio Marine's fossil fuel policies have been updated twice since 2024, but the changes have not stopped Tokio Marine from underwriting new fossil fuel projects, including the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
The letter states: "In our faith communities we have already shifted our finances away from supporting new fossil fuel projects, and we now turn to those around us to ask them to do the same." It concludes by asking Tokio Marine to join faith groups in a conversation about their role in the green transition.
Anna Lewis, Campaigns Coordinator at Quakers in Britain, said: "We're asking Tokio Marine to step up their climate commitments after a year of devastating climate impacts. Insurance companies are a huge part of the system that makes new fossil fuel projects possible – we're asking them to become part of the shift to a greener, fairer future."