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Tell the Global Insurance Industry: Drop Coal Coverage
June 16, 2017 @ 5:15 pm - 7:00 pm
We expect insurance companies to protect us from serious risks, but when it comes to climate change the insurance industry is doing the opposite: it is insuring and investing in new fossil fuel projects that directly contribute to climate catastrophe.
On June 16th, leaders of the world’s largest insurance companies will be in San Francisco for an industry conference. Join No Coal in Oakland and other local environmentalist organizations to tell these insurance industry CEO’s to “Unfriend Coal.” This will be a peaceful, public rally on public sidewalks at California & Stockton in San Francisco (map), so feel free to bring your friends and family.
The “Unfriend Coal” network is a global coalition of NGOs and social movements that is pressuring insurance companies to get out of the coal business and all fossil fuel projects, and to support the transition to clean energy. The coalition thus far includes 350.org, Rainforest Action Network, the Sierra Club, Avaaz, Waterkeeper Alliance, the Sunrise Project, DivestInvest Individual, Friends of the Earth France, Greenpeace Switzerland, Market Forces (Australia), Re:Common (Italy), ShareAction (UK), Urgewald (Germany). A letter signed by these groups calls upon insurance companies to divest from and stop their underwriting of fossil fuel technologies within the next six months. It exempts workers compensation policies, which “directly benefit workers in the coal industry.”
Insurance companies have invested more than $500 Billion in the fossil fuel sector. At a time when science tells us that we must leave fossil fuels in the ground and build no more coal plants, the industry is still insuring the mining and building of new coal facilities. The good news is that with people power, we are beginning to see cracks in this industry approach—some insurers have begun to exit the coal sector.
No Coal in Oakland is joined in co-sponsoring the San Francisco rally by Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club Bay Chapter, 350 Bay Area, Idle No More SF Bay, and the Sunflower Alliance.