OPEN LETTER TO THE CEOS OF TOP US BANKS BY ASSETS

Subject: STOP FUNDING ALL NEW FOSSIL FUEL PROJECTS NOW!

How do you sleep at night?

This morning Extinction Rebellion activists staged direct actions at the headquarters of JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, and Bank of America in New York City, NY ahead of the Enough Is Enough mass march and rally at the New York Public Library. 

The climate and ecological crisis is here. Despite the emergency, America’s largest banks have only super-charged climate chaos. JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, and Bank of America have poured $317 billion, $237 billion, and $198 billion, respectively, into fossil fuels in the years since the 2015 Paris Agreement. As a major contributor to the crisis, your banks have a moral responsibility to stop the harm and you need to do it now. 

Climate change is the mother of all systemic risks, with the potential to cause the collapse of civilization as we know it. The most basic needs of billions—food, water, shelter, health—are all at risk. Climate-crisis shocks will lead to market instability and financial loss, throwing economies into chaos. Social breakdown, violence, and regional wars over resources are likely to follow. All these threats are magnified as long as we continue to burn fossil fuels. 

At the current 1.1° C rate of warming, this summer we have witnessed droughts and fires in Southern Europe, Russia, and North America to severe flooding in Western Europe, Africa, and Asia. Climate catastrophes are arriving with a frequency and ferocity that have shocked climate scientists. The fact that climate models failed to predict the intensity of the summer’s heatwaves and flooding suggests that severe impacts will come sooner than previously thought. It’s already too late for communities and ecosystems who have already been burnt to the ground or washed away. Multi-regional crop losses and climate warfare occurring even before reaching 1.5° C should no longer be ruled out. It's too late for small reforms, and too late to stop it with technology. Sadly, a serious amount of warming and species loss is now unavoidable. Do you see how your bank is getting away with murder? 

The banking industry knew about the risks of subprime lending that led to the 2008 financial crisis. Banks ignored those risks because profits were prioritized above all else. That unethical behavior continues today and the risks are much more complex. Instead of stopping the harm, banks are seeking ways to profit from climate breakdown, such as by betting on the price of water due to scarcity, and misleading customers about the nature of sustainable offerings. We need you to be proactive in stopping the harm because it is already too late to wait on governments to enact the necessary climate-related policy and regulations. 

Plans to lower emissions by 2050 is deadly procrastination. It is kicking the can down the road and you certainly will not be around to see it through to achieving those goals. Meanwhile, “net zero” is betting the future of life on Earth that someone will invent new technology to draw down CO2 at a massive scale. It is false hope to think that technology alone will solve the crisis. We need to stop the problem at its root. 

The International Energy Agency said in May that there must be no new oil, gas, or coal development if the world is to reach net zero by 2050. More than 100 Nobel Laureates, including the Dalai Lama, have called on governments to adopt and implement a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. It’s not a radical position: it’s about survival— yours, your children’s, and everyone else's. 

We are everyday people — mothers, fathers, grandparents, and children — who have chosen to take the risk of engaging in non-violent civil disobedience at your doorstep because we have reached a point where it is now absolutely necessary. The risk of arrest is proportional in comparison to the risk of climate chaos your bank is enabling. Environmental and animal rights activists, including indigenous land, forest,and water protectors all around the world have been warning about and resisting your bank’s unethical behaviors for decades. We are here in solidarity for them, on their behalf, while they are abused, imprisoned, and killed for fighting for justice. How much louder and more confrontational do we need to get for you to pay attention to our cries and demands? 

Kurt Vonnegut once famously said: “Dear future generations: Please accept our apologies. We were rolling drunk on petroleum.” Your bank is enabling this to happen. You’re the ones giving the drunk drivers the keys to the car. We beg you to stop.

Reference: https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Banking-on-Climate-Chaos-2021.pdf