Lloyds of London’s climate roadmap consultation faces backlash

Two climate campaign groups have criticised Lloyd’s of London’s announcement that it will hold a consultation over its climate roadmap.

In a joint statement, Reclaim Finance and Insure Our Future told the marketplace that “it was time for action, not consultation” over its three year strategy to insure the transition to a lower carbon economy.

The roadmap, which was announced last week (23 November 2023), outlined Lloyd’s climate plans across all areas of the market, including underwriting, investments, exposure management and capital and reserving.

The consultation on the plans will close on 31 January 2024.

In response, Ariel Le Bourdonnec, insurance campaigner at Reclaim Finance, said: “Our society and our planet does not need another consultation but real action.

“Lloyd’s of London claims it wants to support a just transition, but behind the new narrative, it’s the same old story.

”Lloyd’s only seeks to calculate the impact of climate change on its business, without thinking about the impact of its business on climate change.”

Responsibility

The consultation was designed with managing agents, brokers and insurance associations.

It outlines the planned oversight processes and regulatory expectations on climate-related risk management, capital and reserving as well as transition planning.

And the document aims to provide short-term actionable steps that can be taken – Lloyd’s explained that its longer-term roadmap will be developed in response to consultation feedback and remain in line with government policy and regulatory requirements.

However, Lindsay Keenan, EU coordinator at Insure Our Future, explained that the consultation “reads like a complete avoidance of any responsibility by Lloyd’s for its members’ actions in insuring fossil fuels”.

Research published by Insure Our Future earlier this year (10 November 2023) claimed that insurers operating in the Lloyd’s market were collectively the world’s biggest fossil fuel underwriters.

In its annual scorecard, the group claimed that most insurers were supporting projects increasing oil and gas production and, as a result, were ”continuing to fuel the climate emergency”.

Speaking about Lloyd’s climate plans, Keenan said: “It reads like one long sustainability get-out clause that allows Lloyd’s and its members to do whatever they please, or not, so long as they make a profit. It feels very irresponsible.

“Insure Our Future will respond in more detail in due course.”