<h2>Not One More Dollar Should Be Spent On Coal</h2>
<p>In the 21st century we should not be using a 19th century technology—electricity generated from coal—to power our homes, schools, hospitals and businesses. Coal mining, burning, and storage all carry significant risks to public health and to the climate. No financial institution or power utility should invest one more dollar in the outdated technology.<br /><br />
Despite what the dirty energy lobby will tell you, the age of coal is over. Across the world people are fighting to rid coal from their communities. Coal fired power plants have been linked to developmental defects in 300,000 infants born at risk because of their mother's exposure to toxic mercury pollution. Asthma rates are skyrocketing in communities exposed to particulates from burning coal, and while the US government has taken some positive steps to mandate pollution controls, 2/3 of coal-fired plants still lack the technology needed to keep toxic air pollution, like mercury, acid gases and arsenic, out of our air and water.<br /><br />If the world is to prevent climate chaos, coal needs to stay in the ground. We are already experiencing record heat and extreme weather, and with coal generating about 20 percent of global emissions, much of the blame lies with it. Institutions from across the spectrum—from NASA, to Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, to the United Nations—all say that coal endangers our climate and needs to be phased out.<br /><br />RAN is pushing the banking sector to cut financing to new and existing coal plants, extraction and infrastructure, as well as emphasizing the benefits of increasing funding to clean energy projects such as wind and solar. These technologies are ready right now to power our lives; all that we lack is the political will to make our clean energy future a reality. In the next few years, cutting financing to key coal projects, and ending the projects themselves, will not only mean real and immediate reduction of polluting carbon emissions, but will also send a signal throughout the industry that King Coal’s days are numbered.</p>
<p><b>We have put the six largest U.S. banks ‘on notice’ with the following demands:</b></p><p>
• No financing for companies pursuing new coal-fired power plants and life-extending retrofits of existing coal-fired power plants.<br /><br />
• No financing for companies engaged in mountaintop removal coal mining.
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• No financing for companies pursuing coal export infrastructure.
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• Shift the balance of your energy financing to support power generation that is less threatening to our health and environment.
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