Investors Call on Wall Street Banks to Stop Financing Expanded Fossil Extraction
A group of investors coordinated by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) today announced a slate of resolutions pushing JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, all of which have committed to net zero financed emissions by 2050, “to ensure their financing does not contribute to new fossil fuel supplies as required by the IEA Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 scenario.” Additional resolutions call for absolute emissions targets at JPMorgan Chase, and third-party climate audits at Citi and Bank of America.
Jason Opeña Disterhoft, senior climate and energy campaigner with Rainforest Action Network, said:
”Unless Wall Street banks immediately stop financing expansion of fossil fuels, their recent net zero commitments are greenwash. Those commitments are important signals for the banks’ long-term direction of travel — but they need to take urgent short-term action.
“Investors — whose portfolios are under threat if banks fail to follow through — have a unique role in holding banks accountable. Today’s resolutions are a major step forward. All eyes are now on the SEC, whose handling of this crucial set of proposals will be a litmus test for the Biden administration’s whole-of-government approach to climate change.”
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