Lloyd’s of London faces calls to ditch fossil fuels insurance

Lindsay Keenan, a campaigner at Insure our Future, said: “Lloyd’s needs to act on the science, follow other leading insurers and stop providing the insurance cover that supports and enables climate destroying coal and tar sands projects.

“Lloyd’s has both a moral imperative and a long-term self interest to act as society’s risk manager and stop being a stain on the European insurance industry.”

Lloyd’s members have also reinsured coal mines in Poland. The market reopens its underwriting room today, allowing brokers and underwriters to negotiate in person for the first time since March.

A spokesman said: “We take climate change extremely seriously and recognise the important role insurance is playing in supporting, accelerating and de-risking the transition to a low carbon economy.”

Lloyd’s does not set underwriting policy in the market unless legally required to, the spokesman added, meaning it will not tell members to cut support. However, she said the market will seek to build consensus among its syndicates to tackle global warming.

Some Lloyd’s members are divesting from coal companies and planning to restrict insurance cover for coal projects, she said.

Lloyd’s began excluding coal from its own central mutual investment fund in April 2018.