by Graham Wroe
Changing your insurance company could help in the battle to stop the climate catastrophe and end the genocide in Gaza. Want to know how? Then read on!
Damage caused by flooding and storms has seen the biggest rise in insurance claims in the past 10 years. Global insured losses from natural catastrophes exceeded £130 billion in 2023, well above the 10-year average. Weather-related disasters now make up over 90% of total insured catastrophe losses compared to just 70% in the 1980s, and insurance premiums continue to rise. The projects that scientists say will tip us past safe climate limits are insured by leading insurance companies. These projects poison rivers, displace families, destroy ecosystems, and lock in emissions for decades to come.
In Manchester on September 11th, local activists joined thousands across the globe to disrupt AXA and AIG, two of the world’s biggest insurers of climate destruction and war crimes.
The actions were part of Insure Our Survival, a two-week global campaign spanning 20+ countries. From London and New Zealand to Africa and the Americas, activists targeted insurer offices with blockades, art-led protests, and creative disruptions.
The Grim Reaper
In Manchester, a grim reaper figure with a pennant flag declaring “Insuring Genocide” stood outside the AIG office on Deansgate in torrential rain. Protesters gave out leaflets to the public and spoke about how Palestinians are being killed by the products of arms companies that AIG insures. Many Sheffielders joined in the loud rhythms of the Samba Band.
The protest then moved to AXA’s new office at No. 1 St Michael’s, with drummers making sure office workers were very aware of their presence. Campaigners formed a blockade in front of the building, holding up banners reading “Insure Our Survival” and “Stop Insuring Climate Criminals”. The building had been locked in advance, but staff watched through the windows. Testimonies were read out from communities living on the front line of projects insured by AXA, such as Drax and the Liquid Natural Gas project in Cameron.
Lisa Ridley, spokesperson for Insure Our Survival, said:
“A.I.G. in the U.S. is a leading provider to everyday people of car, house, pet and life insurance. Keeping them safe, so they say. Meanwhile, AIG quietly insures 4 major arms companies which supply Israel with weapons. Weapons used on Palestinians, to destroy houses, cars, pets and lives.
“AXA insures the very “carbon bomb” projects that scientists say will tip us past safe climate limits. Neither of these insurers is keeping us safe; quite the opposite.“
The Manchester protest formed part of a coordinated day of action: in Gloucester, a giant polar bear marched up to AXA’s offices to deliver a letter, confronting staff with the message that AXA’s fossil fuel underwriting is driving species to the brink and putting communities worldwide at risk.
Cordelia Newsome said:
‘Today we showed that people in Manchester won’t stand by while AXA and AIG bankroll destruction. This is just the start. We will keep up the pressure until these companies stop insuring climate chaos and war.’
Boycott AXA and AIG
The campaign has launched a boycott of AXA, AIG, and all their sub-brands, warning that Aviva and Allianz will be next if they continue to bankroll fossil fuels and genocide.
Organisers say the actions send a clear message: without insurance, fossil fuel and arms industries cannot operate. Insurers are movable — and public pressure is growing.
Chausike from Singida in Tanzania, whose community is affected by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project, said
‘We encourage authorities in Tanzania to embrace energy investors and insurance companies that embrace clean energy in our villages and towns. Insure Our Survival events serve as a reminder to global citizens that we need to keep the efforts of rejecting fossil fuel projects to serve our planet. We are participating in these events to be part of the history of those who embrace clean energy for our survival.’
Drax
AXA insures Drax (previously featured on this blog here), the second biggest producer of wood pellets from whole trees, which it obtains by felling biodiverse virgin forests. in Canada, the southern USA, Latvia, and Estonia. It operates the world’s biggest wood-burning plant at its power station near Selby in Yorkshire, and it is the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in the UK. A report in 2024 found that Drax was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the country’s last remaining coal-fired plant.
AXA are not only implicated in insuring Drax, but they also insure the Cameron Liquid Natural Gas project, a major US export terminal in Louisiana. This fuels the global trade in fracked gas, a process banned in the UK due to its extreme methane emissions.
Previously in Sheffield, Extinction Rebellion has targeted the offices of Aviva and AON.
Insure Our Survival issued a statement:
“We demand that underwriters stop enabling toxic industries; fossil fuels, arms and genocide. They all have an incredible power to halt the death and destruction but instead support it in secret. We won’t stop campaigning until they start setting policy to stay within the ‘safe operating space for humanity’ as quantified by the Planetary Boundaries team at the Potsdam Institute. Only then will insurers begin to ensure our survival.”
Further reading
AXA & AIG underwriting “carbon bombs” and fossil expansion
LINGO (Leave It In the Ground Initiative), 2025: AXA held ~£170m in fossil fuel investments across BP, Shell, Exxon, Glencore, Gazprom, and others, companies operating 42 carbon bomb projects in 14 countries.
Reclaim Finance / Insure Our Future Scorecard 2024–25: AXA and AIG remain among the top global insurers of new oil, gas and LNG projects, including on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
AXA ties to Israeli war crimes / arms
Boycott Bloody Insurance Report, 2024: AXA had 19 proven links to Israeli settler banks and arms companies complicit in Gaza, more than any other European insurer.
https://newint.org/arms/2025/your-insurance-company-funding-israeli-war-crimes
Eko.org investigation, 2024: AXA invested in and insured Elbit Systems, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, and others arming Israel’s assault on Gaza, only divesting under activist pressure in 2019 (Elbit) and mid-2025 (settler banks).
AIG fossil and genocide ties
Public Citizen / Rainforest Action Network, 2024–25: AIG insures LNG terminals and fossil expansion, refuses to rule out the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), and remains one of the top 10 fossil fuel insurers globally.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, 2024: AIG insures BP and Dana Petroleum, supplying Israel’s military economy with fuel in return for gas rights off Gaza.
https://www.mezan.org/en/post/46553
Broader industry context
Guardian, March 2024: 40+ insurers ruled out Adani coal mine; 29 ruled out EACOP, showing public pressure works.
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