For several months, environmental groups have been urging insurers not to cover the risks associated with the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Their efforts seem to be succeeding. In early August, the Sunrise Project, a coalition of environmental groups including divisions of Greenpeace, together with First Nations rights movements, announced that a 15th insurer was refusing to provide coverage to Trans Mountain. The insurer is Cincinnati Global Underwriting, a syndicate affiliated with Lloyd's.
The 14 other insurers that have confirmed to the Sunrise Project that they are refusing to cover pipeline risks are Allianz, Argo, AXA, Axis Capital, Generali, Lancashire, Mapfre, Munich Re, QBE, RSA, Scor, Sun Corp, Talanx and Zurich.
In late April, the Canada Energy Regulator allowed Trans Mountain to keep its insurers’ names secret. Sunrise Project also maintains that Trans Mountain had until Aug. 31 to secure its current insurance coverage.
The advocacy group has focused its efforts in recent months on insurers that might cover Trans Mountain’s risks. Lloyd's, Chubb, Liberty Mutual and AIG have been the Project’s main targets.
In mid-June, First Nations leaders and environmental activists demonstrated outside the Vancouver offices of Liberty Mutual. Protesters also rallied outside Chubb’s New York headquarters to urge CEO Evan Greenberg not to insure Trans Mountain. In London, the group Mothers Rise Up handed a giant Father’s Day card to Lloyd’s Chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown, asking him not to steer clear of Trans Mountain, and to withdraw his underwriting syndicate from all fossil fuel projects.