Insurance firms help flooding victims mop up. They also make flooding worse

Climate change is bringing extreme weather to the UK. Thunderstorms at the end of a scorching summer have caused flash floods and the country is now bracing for a season of potentially devastating rainfall. While homeowners could face the trauma of fishing their belongings out of foul-smelling water, they may be stunned to find the insurers helping them mop up are fuelling the climate crisis.

Major insurance companies are protected from flooding losses by a government and industry scheme paid for by everyone in the UK who insures their home. We can reveal that some of those same insurers are underwriting and investing in coal, oil and gas projects that are driving catastrophic climate change. MPs from across the house and campaigners are understandably furious.

Allianz, Axa and Zurich are among major insurers in the Flood Re scheme also providing cover to environmentally ruinous projects. The biggest players in the programme, such as Aviva, also have billions of dollars invested in coal, oil and gas companies. Scientists are clear that burning fossil fuels drives climate change, which causes more and more extreme weather events.

Adrian Ramsay, Green MP and member of the Environmental Audit Committee, said: “Insurers cannot take money from a government-backed scheme designed to protect people from flooding, while actively financing the fossil fuel expansion that makes those floods worse and more frequent.

“Government must use the ongoing reform of Flood Re to make sure insurers benefiting from public-backed flood cover aren’t simultaneously fuelling the crisis behind it.”