Above Photo: Harriet Prince, 76, of the Anishinaabe tribe marches with Coast Salish Water Protectors and others against the expansion of Texas-based Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline project in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada on March 10, 2018. Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images/Common Dreams.
15 Insurers Have Already Cut Ties With The Controversial Pipeline.
səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Territories (Vancouver, BC) — Earlier today, activists from Stand.earth, 350 Vancouver, and Leadnow visited the Vancouver B.C. offices of multinational insurer Chubb to deliver petitions with over 130,000 signatures calling on the company not to renew their policy on the Trans Mountain pipeline. Today’s event is part of a campaign that has already led to commitments from 15 insurers to rule out doing business with the pipeline and other tar sands projects.
“Wildfires, floods, and extreme weather events are costing the insurance industry billions. That is why so many insurance companies are cutting their ties to the dirtiest, most carbon intense forms of fossil fuels that are driving climate change” said Sven Biggs, Canadian Oil and Gas Campaign Director for Stand.earth. “Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg needs to join other industry leaders and rule out insuring the tar sands and tar sands pipelines, like Trans Mountain, to protect his bottom line and all of our futures.”
Earlier this week, the IPCC released its latest alarming report on the state of the climate and warned that humanity had reached a “code red” situation. If the Trans Mountain project is completed, the oil that is shipped through this pipeline will release the same amount of climate pollution as 21 coal fired power plants. Tar sands oil is 70 per cent more carbon intensive than an average barrel of oil.
“Our campaign to stop Trans Mountain from being insured continues to gain momentum because people know that without insurance, this pipeline cannot go forward. In just the past four months, our supporters have written hundreds of thousands of letters to insurance executives,”said Biggs. “The pressure on companies like Chubb is going to continue to build right up to the August 31 deadline for Trans Mountain to find new insurers and beyond.”
Activists are calling on insurers to adopt climate policies that rule out Trans Mountain and other tar sands projects, and to respect the principle of free prior and informed consent from Indigenous People. Many First Nations that are impacted by Trans Mountain have not granted consent for the pipeline.