Some thoughts on the NZIA exodus from the Editor’s keyboard;
Recently the great stage and screen performer, the Queen of good times rock `n’ roll, Tina Turner passed away. As she was remembered by fans and media, most mentioned her great escape from the controlling influence of her violent ex-partner, Ike Turner. It remains a primary reason why Tina was so admired by millions of women around the world; she showed immense strength and courage to follow her own dreams, negotiate her own touring deals and make her own decisions.
Why is Tina’s moving bid for freedom and independence similar to the NZIA exodus? Simple. The Net Zero Insurance Alliance is exactly like Ike Turner, it wants total control over your company money and decision making. You don’t get to choose which projects or people to insure, plus you face micro-management of every single decision, from hiring staff to investing in pension funds. It wants to police the language used in your external and internal marketing comms, it wants to set business goals for you. It wants to ban things it sees as being bad for the planet, which may be sporting or cultural events your insurance company currently supports.
What, you may ask, is the point of having a Board of Directors if the NZIA effectively runs the show?
So hats off to SCOR, AXA, Munich Re and Allianz who have all recently left the cosy climate change NZIA club, citing the risk of “anti-trust lawsuits in the USA” as the reason. It’s a good answer, a very credible answer. Hopefully Lloyd’s will also see the light soon and exit stage left.
In all seriousness, there is a risk that companies facing ruin due to having their insurance cover pulled by NZIA policy would take legal action. Small business owners in Oxford are doing the same thing against the Council and their LTNs, which have destroyed passing trade. Let’s be clear; banning the insurance of certain commercial activities IS an obvious case of deliberate restriction to a company’s ability to trade.
Activists may argue that the pandemic restrictions were – like climate change – all about “emergency measures” being deployed. But big insurers had to pay on BI claims, after various expensive legal battles based on policy exclusions. You can’t blame insurers from wanting to walk away from more £2000 per hour litigation, on a global basis, if oil companies sue for loss of trade due to a cartel-like decision making process. Sorry, it’s not a cartel, the NZIA is a “voluntary organisation.” My bad.
THE BIG ISSUE IS CAPITALISM ITSELF
The thing that Net Zero fans hate the most is not a diesel truck, bringing them a new plastic anorak or smartphone from Amazon. Nope, it’s the notion of capitalism itself. The idea that a company, or individual can sell something and make a tidy profit enrages them. The solution, as Karl Marx pointed out in the 19th century, and every teacher and lecturer in Western countries loves to parrot, is total control by means of constant, progressive revolution.
That’s what NZIA represents; total control of the insurance sector. It’s like Ike Turner waving a “The World is On Fire” placard and wearing a Be Kind wristband at every Board meeting.
Those laudable aims of saving the planet are the cloak, under which a Marxist agenda of taking control of every boardroom lurks. Every piece of evidence, every public policy statement, from the WHO, WEF, Davos, Bilderberg, EU and more points to increasing regulation, calls for banning cover on oil, gas, coal and anything else that is deemed an environmental crime. Insurance brands must check their supplier chain, to make sure no freebooting capitalists are hiding there. They must go “carbon neutral” in their offices and fleet operations. They must now explain to the FCA why they hired a white male for a senior job. How much longer before the call is to ban white people from boardrooms completely? Reparations will be the reason. But the racism behind that move isn’t the true reason, it is ultimately about control, choosing who can or cannot be given a position of power in a company.
Insurance brands are keen to stress that leaving the NZIA isn’t about opting out of the climate change/ESG/Green agenda. That is still at the heart of their operations. If so, expect insurance brands to start going bust before 2030 because their primary purpose should be to insure risks to people and assets, without prejudice, ideology, racism, or any other form of discrimination. No more, no less. Once you become a nudge unit for Net Zero, you are no longer a private company responsible to shareholders. You’ve joined the global government, which is a different thing and definitely a non-profit enterprise.
GERMAN GREENS VOTE FOR NEW COAL MINING
It’s a sign of the times worth noting. In Germany, the reality of pusuing a green energy policy has hit home after the Ukraine war and the sudden cut off from Russian gas supplies. People and companies are facing huge energy bills, rationing of power and a long term problem, since Russia is likely to remain a pariah State even if Zelensky finally agrees to some sort of peace treaty.
The German Green Party recently voted to open a new coal mine in Germany, arguing that domestic energy security is more important that wind turbines and solar panels. The mighty German car industry consumes huge amounts of energy – and water – every day. It is a capitalist enterprise of course and very successful globally; every Alpha male wants a German car on their drive, maybe two. Ask Bill Gates. Germany is already in recession and unless its industrial sector can be revived things may get worse. The fact is that even manufacturing wind turbine blades, sails for oil tankers, battery vehicles, solar panels, heat pumps or other green energy products consumes raw materials and energy is vast quantities. That’s capitalism, that’s how it works.
This has unfuriated eco-protestors of course and they are busy doing all the things you would expect to see. But the truth is, humans need reliable 24/7 heat, light and power to construct a civilised society. Those parts of the world without reliable power grids or cheap energy tend to be lawless, violent and bad for people’s health.
But that’s the world you help to create when you choose to pull insurance cover from oil or gas exploration, waste money on electric scooters or hire bicycles that have a 4 year battery pack lifespan. Or hire on diversity quotas, not talent. You slowly but surely destroy society from within and the inevitable poverty, rationing, food riots and revolutionary bloodshed is on you.
Don’t be part of the Year Zero solution. Go Tina, not Ike.
Be the first to comment