In an effort to induce the Zurich Insurance Group, Trans Mountain Pipeline's insurer, to accelerate its decision to pull out of projects in Canada's oil sands sector, more than 50,000 people have signed a petition asking the company to drop its coverage of the pipeline.

“We are calling on insurance giant Zurich to not insure the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. Canada’s oil sands industry, which is one of the most climate intensive forms of oil in the world, cannot be allowed to continue to grow — or we will lose in our global fight to maintain a climate safe world for future generations. That is why stopping the expansion of this pipeline is so important,” said Sven Biggs, Climate and Energy Campaigner at Stand.earth.

Trans Mountain is in the middle of renewing its liability insurance for the existing pipeline and a positive decision to drop Trans Mountain will have to buy additional insurance for the expansion six months before the pipeline is operational.

In June, Zurich Insurance Group pledged it would generally no longer underwrite or invest in companies that bring in more than 30 per cent of their revenue directly from extracting oil or from oil sand.