Extinction Rebellion’s national campaign demanding that the insurance industry dumps “the fossil fuel criminals setting the world on fire” hit the streets of Preston over the weekend.

For five days last week, thousands of people supporting Extenion Rebelion’s ‘Insure Our Survival’ campaign staged high-profile protests and actions in London and Manchester calling upon insurers to stop insuring all new oil, gas and coal projects.

On Saturday, the action moved into towns and cities across the UK as hundreds of activists targeted Howden Insurance branches, including the one on Fishergate in Preston.

At the demonstration outside Howden’s Preston office, Extinction Rebellion (XR) say their banner attracted the public’s attention and protesters chatted with shoppers about Howden’s role in insuring fossil fuels and the effect that fossil fuel use is having on their property insurance premiums as well as the recent floods in Valencia.

Extinction Rebellion held a protest outside Howden Insurance on Fishergate over the weekend. | submit

placeholder image — Extinction Rebellion held a protest outside Howden Insurance on Fishergate over the weekend. | submit

Alison Parker of Extinction Rebellion Cumbria said: ”We’re here at Howden Insurance today because without insurance, the fossil fuel industry will have to stop taking fossil fuels out of the ground because they can’t afford the financial costs if something goes wrong. The Howden Insurance Group still insures fossil fuel extraction.’

“The Potsdam Institute, one of the most respected climate research institutions in the world gave a stark warning in a report in October 2024.

“The report opens by saying: ‘We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperilled. We are stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis…. we can now only hope to limit the extent of the damage’.

“The insurance industry could be climate heroes and use their ‘superpower’ to shut down the fossil fuel industry and help save our entire civilisation, and the biosphere that we rely on for life. Instead Howden Insurance Group say that they will be carbon neutral by 2030, while all the time enabling fossil fuel projects that help to create the extreme weather that is flooding our homes, destroying our food supply and threatening to kill billions in our lifetimes.”

The signs read 'only fools insure fossil fuels' and 'insure our survival' | submit

XR say their Insure Our Survival campaign has already made the insurance industry “sit up, take notice and act”.

In February, thousands of XR activists, acting alongside a global campaign coalition called Insure Our Future, staged a week-long series of actions across the world.

After repeated mass visits to the offices of insurers giant global insurers Zurich announced that they would no longer insure new oil and gas projects.

Alison added: “We know the insurance industry is listening. So we say: dump all new oil, gas and coal now - or we’ll be back.”

In a public statement, Howden said: “We were aware of the protest action targeting a number of UK insurance companies last week, and took steps to ensure the security of our premises and the safety of our employees and visitors.

“Howden is committed to playing an active role in the transition to net zero, and we believe that we can have more impact by working with clients to accelerate their decarbonisation than by disengaging from them.

“We have invested significantly in developing the solutions and driving the change needed for our industry to play its crucial role in derisking both the continued development of alternative energy sources and the decarbonisation of existing.