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"don't invest in shell" foei tells prudential agm
8 May 1997
Protesters outside Prudential AGM
From 11:30 am, Thursday 8 May
Outside Plaisterers Hall, 1 London Wall, Cheapside, London
(on corner of London Wall and Noble Street, nearest tube is St Paul's.)
Campaigners from Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) will attend the Prudential AGM on Thursday 8 May to ask the company to disinvest from Shell because of it's membership of the Global Climate Coalition (GCC) - a powerful industry organisation which has been blocking international agreements to tackle climate change [1]. Protesters will be outside with placards and banners.
Friends of the Earth will warn Prudential - the largest single institutional shareholder in Shell[2], with over 1 billion invested in the oil giant - that its long-term profitability may be threatened by weather-related insurance claims, such as subsidence and winter storms,so investing in a climate-wrecking company like Shell is commercially unwise. A number of insurance companies, including General Accident, have already reported such losses[3].
Anna Stanford, Friends of the Earth's Climate Change Campaigner, said:
"Climate change could have a number of highly damaging consequences and insurance companies will be expected to pick up the bill. Weather-related claims are already costing the industry millions of pounds so the truly prudent insurance company should not invest in a company like Shell unless it promises to stop lobbying against agreements to protect the global climate.".
OVER>>>
As well as disinvesting from Shell, FOE will be calling on the Prudential to make a public commitment to fight climate change. The company has not signed the UN "Statement of Environmental Commitment by the Insurance Industry' which supports action to prevent climate change.
Notes
[1]The Global Climate Coalition (GCC) is an umbrella lobbying group for the fossil fuel industry which is attempting to block international agreements for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at key climate talks this year. The most important set of negotiations is the Climate Summit in Kyoto in December when world governments will try to agree targets and timetables for reducing emissions. A briefing on the GCC is available from FOE.
[2]Prudential is the largest single institutional shareholder in Shell UK. Its stake in the oil giant is around 1.2 billion - 2.5% of Prudential's assets - and it effectively owns 3.11%of Shell.
[3]In 1995 General Accident said that more "weather related losses" contributed to increased underwriting losses of 59 million.
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Dec 2008
