It’s no secret that the driving force behind the fossil fuel industry’s expansion is the financial industry. But the nation’s leading climate movement launched a new mobilization to pressure Wall Street to stop financing fossil fuels.
Stop the Money Pipeline is a coalition of some of the nation’s leading climate, youth and indigenous organizations and is targeting banks, insurance companies and asset managers to “stop financing fossil fuels and deforestation and start respecting human rights and Indigenous sovereignty,” a press release stated. The climate movement believes the financial industry is “fueling” the climate crisis with its investments in fossil fuel expansion.
“With Australia burning and Jakarta underwater, the science is clear that every new investment in fossil fuels is committing the world to climate chaos and human rights violations on a massive scale,” Carroll Muffett, President at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), said. “Fossil fuel producers are already being held accountable in courtrooms around the world. The financial sector should take note, take action or take cover.”
Some of the organizations involved in Stop the Money Pipeline mobilization include Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, Greenpeace USA, Sunrise Project, Future Coalition, Divest Ed, Divest-Invest, Native Movement, Giniw Collective, Transition US, 350.org, Oil Change International, 350 Seattle, Center for International Environmental Law, Union of Concerned Scientists, Majority Action, Earth Rights International, The YEARS Project, and more. The movement kicked off its campaign in Washington D.C. alongside “Fire Drill Friday” on Friday targeting JP Morgan Chase, the largest private funder of fossil fuels in the world, investing more than $196 billion into fossil fuel expansion, a press release stated.
“Banks around the globe are betting against our future with every dollar they invest in fossil fuels,” Janet Redman, climate campaign director at Greenpeace USA, said. “We know we need to stop the expansion of the fossil fuel industry if we want to have any chance of combating the climate crisis, but we can’t begin to make serious headway until financial institutions like banks, asset managers, and pension funds stop funding this destructive oil and gas industry. Money is the oxygen on which the climate crisis burns—and we need everyone to care where their money is being spent.”
Since 2015, global banks have invested more than “$1.9 trillion into new fossil fuel development,” a press release stated, and “without the preferential treatment Wall Street gives to coal, oil and gas companies, the industry would fall apart.”
In the coming months, Stop the Money Pipeline will also target two other companies fueling the fossil fuel industry: Blackrock, the largest single investor in fossil fuels, and Liberty Mutual, a top global insurer of coal, oil, and gas, a press release stated.
“It’s time to hold these arsonists accountable and stop the deadly money pipeline fueling climate devastation,” Collin Rees, Senior Campaigner at Oil Change International, said.
COMMENTS