Even as climate-fueled disasters continue to ravage our communities, Wall Street banks continue to lend our money —billions upon billions of dollars of it — to fossil fuel projects every year.
Last year was the hottest year ever recorded. Every month this year has set a new global heat record. And just days ago scientists recorded the biggest one-time jump in global warming pollution in recorded history. With disastrous climate news breaking day after day, week after week, you’d think it would be past time to stop investing in the fossil fuels that cause climate change, right?
But not the biggest Wall Street Banks. According to this year’s Banking on Climate Chaos report, they’ve lent a whopping $705 Billion to the fossil fuel industry since signing the Paris Climate Accords; Including $347 billion to new fossil fuel projects just last year.
Enough – we’re taking action every week this summer as part of the Summer of heat on Wall Street to hold these big banks accountable and deliver demands for change with non-violent direct action. SIGN NOW to tell Wall Street banks to stop funding fossil fuels and climate chaos and we’ll deliver the message in person.
Wall Street banks have been banking on climate chaos even as they saw the world burning all around them. The 15th annual Banking On Climate Chaos report breaks through the lies and greenwashing to show they’ve been up to. Here’s a few dirty and dangerous highlights:
- JPMorgan Chase is still the worst of the Wall Street banks with $40.8 billion invested in fossil fuels in 2023 alone, including $19.3 billion for new fossil fuel projects and expansions.
- Bank of America is the third worst bank in the world and remains one of the worst Wall Street banks with financing of $333.2 billion in fossil fuel projects since 2016. They also rolled back their policies on Arctic drilling, coal mining, and coal-fired power plants last year — talk about leading in the wrong direction!
Can you even imagine what these hundreds of billions could have done for our climate and communities if they’d invested them in a just transition or a Green New Deal? We know that fossil fuel investments have higher long-term costs than the short-term gains they’re gambling on. But divestment is a direct action. And it’s time to us all the non violent direct action tools at our disposal to hold these Wall Street banks accountable.
Sign on to our clear set of demands for how these banks can be part of a just and equitable future for us all. We’ll also send you regular email updates and blog posts about the campaign, so you can support from wherever you live. Here are our demands, which we’ll deliver as part of the summer of heat on Wall Street actions starting in a few weeks:
- Immediately stop all lending to new or expanded fossil fuel projects.
- Align your investments with the goals of the Paris climate agreement’s 1.5 C goal, and international science models of the emissions reductions needed to achieve that goal.
- Publish detailed progress reports and transition plans on the 1.5 C goal as part of your annual shareholder meetings and investor reports.
- Protect human rights and center the rights of Indigenous Peoples, especially the right to Free Prior and Informed Consent, in all lending decisions.
- Shift financing from fossil fuels to a just and fair transition — including labor agreements, safe worksites, and prevailing wages — so we build back better in the new green economy of the future.
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