By james art Extinction Rebellion announced yesterday that it plans to launch a new wave of protests similar to the high-profile protests seen in recent years. This time the protests are expected to be across Birmingham. The group is calling for urgent action as “climate disasters worsen” and is urging the insurance industry to “kick out the fossil fuel criminals who are setting the world on fire”.
Extinction Rebellion has stated the important role of insurers in the industry, claiming that “without insurance, new oil, coal and gas projects cannot go ahead”. They believe this puts insurers in a “unique position” with respect to the clean energy transition.
Nici from XR Birmingham said: “We know this approach works because we’ve seen it work in the past. Companies such as Zurich have already committed to change under public pressure,” referring to global insurers Zurich, which announced it would no longer insure new oil and gas projects, following repeated mass visits to offices in the City of London and across UK cities.
“Insurers have to see the risk – it’s literally their job to assess it. They ignore the escalating danger by continuing to support fossil fuel projects.
For three days, during the week beginning the 28thth October, thousands of people supporting XR’s Insure Our Survival campaign plan to take action within the City of London, using high-profile protests to call on insurers to stop insuring these new oil, gas and coal projects. After this week of action in London, activists are expected to gather in Birmingham on the 1stSt November for participating in a “peaceful mass protest”. It is scheduled to be held in the city’s famous St Philip’s Cathedral Grounds, commonly referred to as “Pigeon Park”. This event follows a similar action in February, when hundreds of activists took to the streets of Birmingham, saying they would return if enough action was not taken to stop insurers funding fossil fuel projects. True to their word, the activists plan to descend on the city next week.
The protest will begin in Pigeon Park at 12:30 p.m. Hundreds of activists plan to march to the offices of major insurance companies. They plan to be accompanied by images of floods and fires to symbolize “the growing risks these insurers are supporting by continuing to underwrite new fossil fuel projects.”
The activist group promises that this next protest will be even bigger and more decisive than the previous ones.
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