March 31, 2021 – Over the past week, climate justice and community rights advocates kick-started the launch of a global campaign demanding Tokio Marine stop insuring coal, oil and gas projects with energized actions in South, Southeast and East Asia, Australia as well as North America. Outside company offices in Tokyo, Seoul, Jakarta, Delhi, Melbourne, Sydney and New York, groups gathered to put the global insurance company on notice:
Locking us into reliance on fossil fuel infrastructure now and far into the future is simply not acceptable. These projects wreak havoc on the climate and threaten our very existence. They are not needed and not wanted. The science is clear: we need to leave coal, oil and gas in the ground.
That’s why activists from diverse walks of life brought the message directly to Tokio Marine’s offices, noting this is where insurance deals that allow the most destructive fossil fuel projects to advance may be sealed.
Last week also marked the launch of the Olympic Torch Relay, of which Tokio Marine is a gold sponsor. It was in tandem with this occasion, that actions in different cities around the world kicked off the beginning of a relay of public pressure that will ramp up in the coming months.
We will continue to amplify our calls until Tokio Marine adopts a policy and actionable plans to immediately align its insurance and investment portfolios with the goals of the Paris Agreement, aiming to limit global warming to 1.5C and ensure clients respect all human rights, including Indigenous Peoples’ rights to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).
More than 30 organizations, social movements, and community alliances from around the world also sent a letter last week with the same message to the CEO of Tokio Marine. Specifically, the letter highlighted a number of fossil fuel projects of global concern that the company must urgently and unequivocally rule out — as a first step towards meaningful action.
To date, we are still awaiting a response from Tokio Marine.
For more information about the campaign check out https://pollutingtheplanet.com/
[Photos]
https://www.flickr.com/photos/insureourfuture/51070659092/in/album-72157718760907917/
Credit: Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society and 350.org Japan
https://www.flickr.com/photos/insureourfuture/51080301128/in/album-72157718760907917/
Credit: Solutions for Our Future
https://www.flickr.com/photos/insureourfuture/51014015035/in/album-72157718760907917/
Credit: Trend Asia
https://www.flickr.com/photos/insureourfuture/51001396540/in/album-72157718760907917/
Credit: The Sunrise Project