Contact: media@axedrax.uk
Spokespeople available on request.
Photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oWJTZyoIHd-ROiRJQBJxBC_qcNYOv6OV
STARTS
Leeds AXA insurance office occupied over “bloody” ties
At 12.30pm today, 15 people occupied and blockade the Leeds office of the insurance giant AXA. Occupiers held banners reading “‘Israel’ needs AXA to bomb Gaza” and “Stop insuring ecocide!”. Police attended the scene.
The action was part of a nationwide mobilisation launching the Boycott Bloody Insurance campaign pressuring AIG, Allianz, Aviva and AXA to stop insuring fossil fuel expansion, the genocide in Palestine, weapons, and the border detention industry [1]. The action was taken by a coalition of groups under the Boycott Bloody Insurance banner, campaigning for divestment and cutting ties with the Zionist settler-colonial project in solidarity with Palestine, with Black and brown communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis, with refugees and asylum seekers and liberation struggles globally.
AXA insures Drax, the UK’s single largest carbon emitter and the world’s biggest tree burning power plant [2] [3]. Drax has been repeatedly accused of poisoning low-income, Black and brown communities, receiving multiple multi-million dollar fines for its pellet operations, and violated environmental regulations over 11,000 times in the US south [4][5]. AXA has $177 million invested in 12 weapons manufacturers [6] including BAE Systems and General Dynamics, who supply the Israeli military with equipment and illegal weapons, such as white phosphorus used to target civilians [7] and aid workers [8].
Jose from Leeds Students Against Apartheid Coalition said,
“AXA insures genocide by underwriting RE/MAX and Motorola Solutions. These companies are complicit in the ‘Israeli’ colonial regime. AXA has already cut ties with the ‘Israeli’ weapons company Elbit — now it’s time to cut ties with other companies complicit in genocide and settler colonial violence against Palestine.”
Rosie from Axe Drax said,
“AXA insures companies that profit from racism. RE/MAX and Motorola Solutions support the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the West Bank. Drax inflicts illegal levels of air pollution on poor, black communities in the US. And Indra supports Europe’s violent border regime. These companies make money because Palestinian, Black, and migrant lives are made disposable — and AXA helps them operate. Without AXA’s insurance, these companies blood stained profits would not be possible.”
Boycott Bloody Insurance is sending a clear message to AXA and others: they can and must refuse to underwrite these destructive industries.
ENDS
Contact: media@axedrax.uk
Spokespeople available on request.
Photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oWJTZyoIHd-ROiRJQBJxBC_qcNYOv6OV
Boycott Bloody Insurance
Insurers are key to a financial system built on exploitation, profiting from unethical businesses and shielding corporate misconduct. They underwrite weapons, detention centres, and fossil fuels, causing environmental destruction, human rights abuses and genocide. Communities resist these impacts, risking imprisonment and even death. By campaigning for ethical insurance, we stand in solidarity with Palestinians, climate-struck communities, people seeking safety and justice struggles globally.
AXA
AXA has $177 million invested in 12 weapons manufacturers supplying the ‘Israeli’ military with equipment; including BAE systems and General Dynamics [6]. BAE Systems produces the M109 howitzer used by the ‘Israeli’ military to fire white phosphorus in Gaza, a UN investigation found evidence of BAE equipment being used in the bombing of Medical Aid for Palestinians [8]; General Dynamics supplies the IDF with weapons such as the MK-84 bomb used in Northern Gaza including on Jabalia refugee camp in October 2023, murdering over 100 Palestinians [7]. AXA insures RE/MAX, Motorola Solutions, Indra, and Drax. RE/MAX markets and sells property in illegal ‘Israeli’ settlements built on the occupied West Bank [9] [10] [11]. Motorola Solutions operates out of the West Bank, providing IT and surveillance products to assist the illegal occupation [10][11][12][13]. Indra is a key player in the European border industry and holds contracts with the fossil fuel companies Chevron and BP [14] [15].
Axe Drax
Axe Drax is a UK based grassroots network that actively opposes Drax through disruptive direct action. We campaign for an end to Drax’s subsidies, due to the environmental, societal and planetary impacts of burning trees for energy. We are building a broad based network, working in solidarity with frontline communities to effectively confront the environmentally destructive biomass industry and the social and economic forces driving climate change.
Drax
Drax Power Station, located near Selby in Yorkshire, is the world’s biggest woody biomass power plant and the UK’s single largest carbon emitter. Drax sources from around the world, primarily the US, Canada, and the Baltic States. Drax’s wood pellet production sites, predominantly located in environmental justice communities, emit large amounts of pollutants, such as PM10, PM2.5 and VOCs which are linked to respiratory and pulmonary health impacts. Woody biomass is counted as carbon neutral by the UK Government, allowing Drax to receive £7 billion in renewable energy subsidies (CfDs and ROCs).
Website: https://axedrax.uk / https://boycottbloodyinsurance.org/
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[1] https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/palestine-climate-and-migrant-activists-storm-insurance-offices-cities-across-england
[2] https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/drax-co2-emissions-biomass/
[3] https://www.businessenergydeals.co.uk/blog/drax-biomass-power-station/
[6] https://boycottbloodyinsurance.org/reports/
[7] https://edition.cnn.com/gaza-israel-big-bombs/index.html
[8] https://www.declassifieduk.org/when-israel-bombed-british-doctors-using-uk-weapons/
[9] https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/3648?remax-israel-impact-property-developers/
[12] https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/3808
[14] https://www.tni.org/en/publication/financing-border-wars