For immediate release
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Press Release
NUS-Backed Student Campaign ‘Insure Tomorrow’ Launches Demanding Insurers Stop Fossil Fuel Support
Students from fifty institutions and union officers representing over 1 million students nationally are uniting to challenge the insurance industry’s support of fossil fuels.
The National Union of Students (NUS UK) has endorsed the campaign and joined its members in calling for a shift in the insurance industry.
Union Officers called on insurers to put their students' future first. The London Insurance Marketplace, particularly Lloyd’s of London, is a focal point for student action.
Students from over fifty institutions nationwide gathered in London, Birmingham, Glasgow and online for the launch of Insure Tomorrow, a campaign demanding insurance companies stop insuring new and existing fossil fuel projects. Union Officers, representing over 1 million students nationally, are calling on insurers to put their students' future first by halting all fossil fuel underwriting. The National Union of Students (NUS UK) has endorsed the campaign and joined its members in calling for a shift in the insurance industry.
Amira Campbell, NUS President and Insure Tomorrow National Spokesperson, expressed the urgency of the moment:
"We believe that young people deserve a liveable future. Every industry has a duty—not only to the youth of today but to future generations who are yet to come. What this campaign does is take an issue that is ordinarily perceived to be complex and makes it accessible for students to mobilise around. We now know who is responsible for climate chaos and we are not afraid to stand up against those who stand in the way."
Insurance providers hold immense power in the fight to stop climate change. No fossil fuel infrastructure—from pipelines to drilling operations—can be built without insurance coverage. Despite the risk climate change poses, insurance companies largely continue to support the fossil fuel industry, earning the industry over US$21.25 billion in premiums from fossil fuel underwriting per year.
A major focus of the campaign is Lloyd's of London, the world’s largest insurance marketplace insures 9% of the global fossil fuel industry, making it a significant enabler of climate-damaging projects. With 71% of UK brokers facing vacancies with 23% of those vacancies remaining open for four months or more, the market is failing to attract younger talent. Higher Education graduates likely to be their next employees and students saw the industry's recruitment crisis as an opportune moment to take action.
At a set of training sessions, Officers learnt about the role they could play in raising awareness among students of the role insurance plays in facilitating climate breakdown and how they can use their platforms to advocate for change. The campaign launch builds on the momentum from 2023, when 500 students across the UK pledged to boycott careers at firms, including Lloyd’s of London, that support controversial fossil fuel projects.
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Notes to Editors: Contact: pierrick.roger@sos-uk.org Visual content: launch photos, Social media: @insuretomorrow