Climate protesters call out US banks for funding fossil fuel projects
As they exited their office in Tribeca on Monday afternoon, Citibank employees were confronted with a boisterous crowd chanting and dancing along to the music of a mariachi band.
It was a funny sight: New York banking professionals in black and gray business attire coming face to face with a loud, colorful group on a mission to engage in a conversation about the climate crisis.
One woman dressed as a sunflower attempted to approach a Citibank employee, but her efforts were in vain. Some waved off invitations to take a flyer or walked past the protesters, ignoring them altogether.
Climate activists swarmed parts of New York and San Francisco on Monday afternoon, demanding that banks enact actionable climate resolutions on the eve of their annual shareholders meetings – when crucial decisions about fossil fuel funding are made.
Standing outside Citi’s New York headquarters was Siuli Gowilt, who belongs to Third Act, a group of protesters over the age 60 using their leverage with financial companies. “As retirees, we have a lot of money in places like Citibank, Fidelity, Vanguard, Chase and Wells Fargo, and they’re using our money to fund new fossil fuel projects. We’re asking them to stop it.”
Earlier on Monday in a linked action, activists protested outside a Wells Fargo in San Francisco.
The latest report last week from Banking on Climate Chaos, an organization that tracks bank financing for companies in the fossil fuel industry, found that US banks had loaned over $4.6tn to the fossil fuel industry since 2016, the year the Paris climate agreement was struck.
The report says Citi, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America are the worst offenders, contributing a combined $1.3tn to fossil fuel companies such as ExxonMobile,
Read more on theguardian.com
