Young activists rushed a stage during a keynote speech by Lloyd’s CEO Patrick Tiernan last week, demanding an end to underwriting for arms manufacturers and oil and gas companies.

Banners reading “ ‘diverse’ hiring, indiscriminate killing” and “complicit in genocide” were displayed at a Dive In festival event in London.

The protesters accuse Lloyd’s of promoting inclusion while “underwriting climate and social destruction”.

“This is the ultimate hypocrisy. Insurance companies want to recruit diverse young talent while underwriting the very projects that will make their future unliveable,” a spokesperson for the activist group said.

“They want to be the face of inclusive hiring, but their version of inclusion includes floods, fires and famine for under-represented groups. You don’t get to host career inclusion festivals while profiteering from exclusionary destruction.”  

The protest follows reports in the Financial Times that Mr Tiernan said Lloyd’s will no longer ask members to stop insuring fossil fuels, and will defer to “the energy mix that the government of [a] jurisdiction chooses”.

The US accounts for about half of business at Lloyd’s.  

“Lloyd’s strength is that it’s apolitical. It’s important we don’t wade into issues we don’t need to ... Lloyd’s needs to remain apolitical so we preserve that role when times are choppy in the regions where we operate,” Mr Tiernan was quoted as saying.

Activists from Youth Demand, the Education Climate Coalition, Insure our Survival and Insure Tomorrow disrupted Dive In.

They say the Lloyd’s market is the largest centre for fossil fuel insurance, collecting an estimated £2 billion ($4.08 billion) a year in premiums.  

They say it is out of step with “all major European insurers” that have ruled out underwriting new coal mines and oil and gas projects. “Campaigners have consistently pointed out the role of insurers in enabling fossil fuel projects, which cannot go ahead without coverage, and the growing anger among youth over corporate greenwashing.” 

Executives were gathered at Lloyd’s Lime Street headquarters on Tuesday to launch Dive In, which this year has a new “festival for culture and talent” tagline, after being a “diversity and inclusion festival” for a decade.

On Thursday afternoon, Dive In panels sponsored by Axa and Howden at the festival’s closing event were also disrupted.

Two protesters were escorted outside by security after they held up a banner reading ‘Insure Our Survival Not Fossil Fuels,’ and the room was cleared of its audience. The campaigners accuse insurers of “complicity in genocide and climate chaos” by profiting from conflict in Gaza and fossil fuel expansion.