On May 21, JPMorgan Chase Bank held its annual shareholder meeting in downtown Chicago. Activists disrupted the meeting and rallied outside the offices. Thank you to everyone who was there for the protest.
Take action to amplify the divestment movement:
- If you have control over your retirement funds, divest from fossil fuel companies. If you don’t, let your plan administrator know that you want fossil-free options.
- Is you bank a big lender to fossil fuel projects? See the Rainforest Action Network’s “Banking on Climate Change 2019” report. If so, tell your bank you want them to divest. Move your accounts to another financial institution.
- Determine if your city/town has funds invested in fossil fuels. Let your local officials know you object.
Banks across the globe are starting to take notice and action. Credit Agricole is the latest example of large financial institutions refusing to invest in fossil fuel projects. Sometimes called “la banque verte” due to its historical ties to farming, Credit Agricole is the world’s largest cooperative financial institution. It has adopted a worldwide ban on investments in coal projects and is applying this policy not only to its banking operations, but also to its asset management arm, which holds €1.8 trillion ($2,016,207,000,000 usd). (https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/coal/commercial-bank-credit-agricole-announces-new-no-coal-policy/69714590)
This is part of a growing movement to question the financial wisdom of investing in fossil fuel infrastructure projects due to the chance that their economic lifetimes will be short and they will become “stranded assets”. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/funds-say-climate-change-is-now-part-of-their-investing-equation-11560218940)