Today, 70 Indigenous rights, climate, environmental, consumer rights, and community organizations and groups sent a letter to 22 insurers that are at risk of insuring the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project and the existing Trans Mountain pipeline network.
Read the letter to Trans Mountain’s likely remaining insurers here.
The recipients of the letter were: AIG, Apollo, Ark, Ascot Group, Beazley, Berkshire Hathaway, Brit, Canopius, CNA Hardy, Energy Insurance Limited, Hiscox, Inigo, Liberty Mutual, Lloyd’s of London, Markel, MS Amlin, Navigators, Newline Group, Sirius, Starr, Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting, and W.R. Berkley.
The organizations called on these companies to:
- Publicly rule out insuring the Trans Mountain Expansion Project and existing pipeline network;
- Adopt a policy that rules out underwriting tar sands expansion projects and companies that are expanding tar sands;
- Adopt a policy to ensure that all of the projects it insures have obtained the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) of impacted Indigenous communities.
As the letter details, the existing Trans Mountain pipeline and Trans Mountain Expansion Project pose massive risks to our global climate, Indigenous rights and sovereignty, and the health and safety of communities along the supply chain.
To date, 18 insurers have committed to not provide any coverage for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in light of these grave climate, environmental, and human rights threats, and many have also ruled out support for the existing Trans Mountain pipeline. In recent months, Aspen and Arch have announced that they will be cutting ties with Trans Mountain when their existing policies expire on August 31, 2022.
By contrast, the 22 recipients of the letter have not made any commitments regarding involvement in Trans Mountain’s operational insurance policy or insurance coverage for the expansion project. The 70 organizations pledge to spotlight these companies for their potential role in enabling the climate crisis and human rights abuses.
As the letter puts it:
“We urge you to rule out insuring Trans Mountain, as well as any projects or companies that are expanding the tar sands sector. We also call on you to require that clients obtain and document the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of impacted Indigenous peoples. Until you do, we will continue spotlighting your company’s failure to publicly distance yourself from this project, rule out all tar sands expansion, and respect Indigenous rights. We will urge the public and corporate clients to purchase insurance only from those companies that have taken a stand against Trans Mountain.”
