Grade: High Exposure to Destructive Companies
Zurich Insurance Group, founded in 1872 and headquartered in Switzerland, is one of the world’s largest and most diversified insurers, employing around 60,000 people and serving customers in over 200 countries and territories. The company operates through three main segments: General Insurance, Global Life, and Farmers, offering a broad portfolio ranging from motor and home insurance to complex commercial, life, and pension products.
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HQ
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Market Value
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Investments Managed
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Turnover
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Insurance Products
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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Switzerland
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$75 billion
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$339 billion
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$65 billion
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Health - Life - Business - Car Home - Travel
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Insurance
94
$
550
million
Fossil Fuel Gross Direct Premiums Written (GDPW) represent the size of Zurich’s business with fossil fuel clients in 2023.
Insured by Zurich
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Climate Crisis
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Gaza Genocide
Shell, a global oil and gas titan born from colonial exploitation in the former Dutch East Indies, continues its relentless pursuit of profit, cementing its status as one of the planet’s most egregious environmental destroyers and political manipulators. In 2024, it shamelessly reneged on carbon emission targets following a legal battle, breaking prior commitments. Billions are funnelled into anti-climate lobbying, even extending to support for far-right climate-sceptic groups, systematically undermining urgent global efforts.
The company’s history is stained with accusations of corruption and human rights abuses, most notoriously its complicity in the 1995 executions of the Ogoni Nine, Nigerian activists protesting Shell’s devastating environmental impact in the Niger Delta. Decades later, justice remains elusive for victims of its oil spills, like the village of Goi, where Shell battled for years to avoid accountability. More recently, Shell has been accused of complicity in the Gaza genocide, supplying significant quantities of fuel to Israel since October 2023, brazenly disregarding international calls for embargoes. This echoes a pattern of exploiting armed conflicts for financial gain, as seen in its lobbying for the Iraq War. Shell’s decades-long knowledge of its devastating environmental consequences has merely fuelled its expansion, revealing a company that remains true to its exploitative origins.
Insured by Zurich
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Gaza Genocide
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Controversial Weapons
General Dynamics, a cornerstone of the global arms industry, stands as a primary architect of destruction, arming conflicts worldwide, including the genocidal campaign in Gaza. The company is a key supplier of devastating weaponry to Israel, notably the MK-84 bombs—weapons of immense destructive power notoriously unleashed in densely populated areas. By November 2023, over 500 such bombs, courtesy of General Dynamics, had reportedly been dropped in Northern Gaza.
Beyond its direct role in current atrocities, General Dynamics distinguishes itself through involvement in three categories of controversial weapons. It holds licences for depleted uranium, primarily for its M1 Abrams tank systems, and produces components that can facilitate the deployment of abhorrent white phosphorus munitions. Furthermore, the company is a critical subcontractor on the Sentinel programme, contributing to the chilling modernisation of nuclear weapons.
CASE STUDY: Jabalya Refugee Camp Bombing
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Insured by Zurich
- Gaza
On 31 October 2023, Israeli forces dropped US-made MK-84 bombs—manufactured by General Dynamics—on the densely populated Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. The strike obliterated residential buildings and left a scene of devastation, with more than 120 people killed, the majority women and children, and hundreds more wounded or missing beneath the rubble. The attack, which Israel claimed targeted a Hamas commander, was widely condemned and is cited as a potential war crime, highlighting the lethal consequences of exporting powerful munitions to conflict zones.
I was waiting in line to buy bread when suddenly and without any prior warning seven to eight missiles fell. There were seven to eight huge holes in the ground, full of killed people, body parts all over the place, it felt like the end of the world.
Insured by Zurich
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Climate Crisis
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Gaza Genocide
As one of the world’s top five private oil giants, Chevron has left a trail of devastation across continents—from the toxic ruins of Ecuador’s Amazon to the militarised gas fields fueling Israel’s war machine. The company ranks as history’s fourth-largest carbon polluter, yet responds to legal accountability with ruthless retaliation, spending billions harassing environmental lawyers.
Chevron’s operations are steeped in blood. It bankrolled Myanmar’s military junta, financed violent repression near the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, and faces multiple genocide accusations. Now, its Israeli gas fields—Tamar and Leviathan—power both apartheid and genocide. By supplying 70% of Israel’s electricity, Chevron enables the very military bases enforcing Gaza’s blockade and bombing campaigns. When Israel destroyed Gaza’s power plant, it forced Palestinians into dependence on Chevron-backed energy—a cruel stranglehold the company profits from.
Insured by Zurich
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Gaza Genocide
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Controversial Weapons
Honeywell International, a global conglomerate, is deeply entrenched in the machinery of conflict, contributing critical components to Israel’s military operations, particularly implicated in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Its precision-guided munitions have been identified in devastating strikes, including the airstrike on the U.N.-run al-Sardi school on 6th June 2024, which brutally claimed the lives of at least 40 Palestinians, including 14 children.
Beyond its immediate complicity in the Gaza genocide, Honeywell is a linchpin of the US nuclear weapons programme. As the sole manufacturer of critical navigation systems for weapons like the Minuteman III nuclear missile, and a key subcontractor on the Sentinel programme, the company underpins the modernisation of these apocalyptic arsenals. Its subsidiary’s oversight of the Kansas City National Security Campus, responsible for 85% of non-nuclear components for US nuclear weapons, and its operation of the Nevada National Security Site, further highlight its profound connection to instruments of mass destruction.
Investments
Cumulative investments in destructive companies across four areas.
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Fossil Fuels
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Gaza Genocide
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Controversial Weapons
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Feb 2025
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$262,694,123
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$179,841,513
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$123,673,568
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May 2025
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$234,883,075
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$74,842,120
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$204,842,120
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$113,000,000 invested by Zurich
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Climate Crisis
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Gaza Genocide
ExxonMobil is a titan of the fossil fuel industry, its operations spanning six continents and its profits built on a foundation of deceit and devastation. By the late 1970s, its own scientists had mapped out the catastrophic consequences of burning fossil fuels—yet ExxonMobil chose to bury the truth, unleashing a decades-long campaign of climate denial and misinformation that poisoned public debate and delayed climate action. The company poured millions into discrediting climate science, manipulating policy, and silencing dissent, all while its executives privately acknowledged the lethal risks of their products.
ExxonMobil’s legacy is soaked in blood and oil. In 2003, the company began supplying Israel with aviation and military fuel, which it has been continuing until today. In light of the International Court of Justice’s 2024 ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza, also means that Exxon may be legally liable for complicity in acts of genocide.
Its history is scarred by complicity in coups, such as its role in overthrowing Iran’s democratic government, and by direct involvement in human rights atrocities: Indonesian villagers in Aceh alleged torture, sexual violence, and mass graves at the hands of soldiers guarding Exxon’s gas fields. The company has weaponized international law to sue governments for daring to protect their environment, while suing its own shareholders for demanding climate responsibility.
$130,000,000 invested by Zurich
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Controversial Weapons
RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, is a major player in the global arms industry and a prime contractor for the United States’ newest generation of nuclear weapons. The company leads the development of the Long Range Standoff missile, a nuclear-capable weapon designed to be launched from bombers and to evade modern defences, reinforcing America’s nuclear strike capabilities. RTX’s influence extends further through its subsidiary, Collins Aerospace, which is building crucial command and control systems for the US Air Force’s next-generation Sentinel missile. These projects place RTX at the core of efforts to modernise and expand the US nuclear arsenal.