Open letter to new Lloyd’s of London CEO Patrick Tiernan calling for climate leadership

Reclaim Finance has issued an open letter to Patrick Tiernan, the new CEO of Lloyd’s of London, calling for the insurance market to cease underwriting new fossil fuel infrastructure. The letter argues that climate change is already causing market fragility, citing insurer withdrawals in California and potential town abandonment in the UK. It claims that while Lloyd's announced restrictions on thermal coal and Arctic exploration in 2020, these have since been "watered down to guidelines" without enforcement. Reclaim Finance proposes four specific actions: requiring managing agents to stop underwriting fossil fuel expansion, making new agent establishment conditional on net zero alignment, requiring disclosure of underwriting policies for new fossil fuel projects, and implementing monitoring and sanctions for non-compliance in annual ESG reports.

• Reclaim Finance asserts that climate change is already creating systemic financial instability and uninsurability, noting that insurers are leaving segments of the California market and that Tenbury Wells in the UK could be the first town abandoned because shop owners cannot afford insurance.
• The document claims that Lloyd’s of London continues to be a "central hub" for fossil fuel insurance and that previous 2020 commitments to stop providing new cover for thermal coal-fired power plants, thermal coal mines, oil sands, and Arctic energy exploration have been reduced to non-enforced guidelines.
• Reclaim Finance proposes a four-part strategy for the CEO to align the market with climate goals: requiring managing agents to stop underwriting fossil fuel expansion, conditioning the creation of new managing agents on net zero strategies, mandating disclosure of underwriting policies for new fossil fuel projects, and establishing enforcement mechanisms and sanctions for non-compliance.

APA

Manickawasagar, A. (2025). Open letter to new Lloyd’s of London CEO Patrick Tiernan calling for climate leadership. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/06/02/open-letter-to-new-lloyds-of-london-ceo-patrick-tiernan-calling-for-climate-leadership/

Chicago

Manickawasagar, Aatiraï. Open letter to new Lloyd’s of London CEO Patrick Tiernan calling for climate leadership. Reclaim Finance, 2025. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/06/02/open-letter-to-new-lloyds-of-london-ceo-patrick-tiernan-calling-for-climate-leadership/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Manickawasagar |first1=Aatiraï |title=Open letter to new Lloyd’s of London CEO Patrick Tiernan calling for climate leadership |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=2 June 2025 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/06/02/open-letter-to-new-lloyds-of-london-ceo-patrick-tiernan-calling-for-climate-leadership/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{manickawasagar2025open, author = {Manickawasagar, Aatiraï}, title = {{Open letter to new Lloyd’s of London CEO Patrick Tiernan calling for climate leadership}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/06/02/open-letter-to-new-lloyds-of-london-ceo-patrick-tiernan-calling-for-climate-leadership/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }