Insurance giant Liberty is a huge backer of tar sands and has not ruled out support for Arctic drilling, two sectors that spell disaster for Indigenous rights and the climate. As a top global oil and gas insurer and investor with billions invested in fossil fuels, Liberty is complicit in the destruction of waterways and sacred land.
All oil and gas projects need one thing: insurance coverage. Without insurance, new tar sands pipelines, Arctic drilling rigs, and oil refineries cannot be built, and existing projects cannot continue to operate.
Despite the massive risks of these projects, Liberty’s executives have refused to make space in their calendars to meet with Indigenous and frontline leaders, whose lands, livelihoods, and cultures Liberty is threatening with its business practices.
At the end of 2020, Liberty announced that it was joining an international network on responsible investing because of its commitment to build “prosperous and inclusive societies for future generations.” But we know that these words mean absolutely nothing if the insurance giant continues to insure and invest in fossil fuel expansion on Indigenous lands without consent.
Tar sands oil is one of the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive fuels on the planet, and its extraction has already contaminated the drinking water and food of Indigenous communities in Canada and unleashed massive amounts of carbon pollution.
Massive pipelines like Trans Mountain and Line 3 would transport crude tar sands oil from Alberta, unleashing a massive dirty carbon bomb on the planet, violating treaties with Indigenous communities, and polluting sacred lands and waterways. But they are facing powerful Indigenous and grassroots resistance right now.
We must move in solidarity with Indigenous communities by holding the insurers of these destructive projects accountable. We must continue to pressure Liberty Mutual to listen to the demands made by Indigenous leaders and stop supporting rights-violating, dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure.
It’s way past time for Liberty Mutual to put people over profit and take a stand for our collective futures. We demand Liberty Mutual stop fueling climate chaos and insuring human rights abuses.
