What EIL is for
EIL protects an owner, operator or lender against the financial consequences of pollution conditions — whether discovered tomorrow or caused by a previous owner decades ago. It is the cover that unlocks transactions where contamination would otherwise be a deal-breaker.
Typical structures we place
- Single-site EIL for industrial or operational assets
- Transactional EIL for brownfield acquisitions and disposals
- Portfolio EIL across multi-site real estate or industrial groups
- Lender-required EIL with mortgagee and additional-insured endorsements
- Contractor's pollution liability for remediation works
- Multi-year programmes aligned to development or financing horizons
How James Alexander structures the placement
EIL is not a commoditised product. Each placement depends on site history, intended use, financing structure and regulator engagement. Meliora ESG drafts the submission, runs the market in London, negotiates manuscript wording, and supports the client through claims if and when they arise.
Twenty-five years at WTW, Lockton and as a Lloyd's member means the underwriting relationships and technical depth are in-house — not subcontracted.
Frequently asked
- What is environmental impairment liability insurance?
- Environmental Impairment Liability (EIL) is a specialist insurance product covering legal liability for pollution conditions on or emanating from a site, including historic contamination, gradual pollution, and statutory clean-up obligations. It is the standard environmental cover in the Lloyd's market.
- What does EIL insurance cover?
- A typical EIL policy responds to first-party clean-up, third-party bodily injury and property damage, statutory remediation under UK environmental law, biodiversity and habitat damage, legal defence costs, and business interruption following a pollution event.
- How is EIL different from public liability?
- Most public liability policies exclude pollution beyond sudden and accidental events, and exclude gradual pollution and historic conditions entirely. EIL is designed specifically to respond where public liability falls away — and to satisfy lender and contractual requirements.
- Is 2m indemnity enough for an environmental consultant?
- It depends on the scope of work. Environmental consultants advising on contaminated land deals, Phase II investigations, or remediation design routinely face exposures well above £2m. Meliora ESG benchmarks indemnity limits against the actual project pipeline rather than rules of thumb.