February 26, 2020

Chase Bank Responds to Pressure

CARI applauds JPMorgan Chase Bank's baby steps toward curbing fossil fuel loans. The pressure campaign is working! Here's what else they need to do.

 

Climate Action Rhode Island (CARI) applauds yesterday’s announcement by JPMorgan Chase Bank that it will:

 

  • finally rule out funding of new oil and gas development in the Arctic,
  • strengthen restrictions on its funding of coal mining and coal power,
  • join the “Climate Action 100+” coalition—an investor initiative using shareholder engagement and voting to drive climate progress with many of the world’s biggest corporate polluters,
  • facilitate $200 billion in projects that meet the UN’s sustainable energy goals.

But there is far more that JPMorgan (Chase) needs to do.  CARI calls upon Chase to also rule out funding for:  
  • Arctic gas and oil exploration specifically,
  • other companies active in the Arctic,
  • other companies behind new coal plants including those large coal mining companies and conglomerates that get less than half of their revenue from coal,
  • other parts of the fossil fuel industry, including gas and oil outside the Arctic, tar sands, fracking, pipelines, and LNG terminals;
  • and to remove from its board former Exxon-Mobil chairman Lee Raymond, who has a long record of dismissing concerns about climate change.

 

As for stockholder climate votes, the upcoming Chase proxy voting season will offer an immediate test of the consistency and transparency of this new commitment.

 
Since the Paris Climate Agreement, in 2016-2018 Chase Bank provided a world-leading $196 billion in funding for fossil fuel projects and companies. The announcement adds JPMorgan Chase to an expanding list of financial institutions that have similarly made climate commitments, like Goldman Sachs and BlackRock, as pressure grows for companies to address climate change. The BBC reported last week that economists at JPMorgan warned clients that there could be “catastrophic outcomes” if action is not taken on climate change. 

 

CARI volunteer Brian Wilder said, “Climate Action Rhode Island applauds these steps by Chase Bank which are important, but also quite modest. If Chase bank is serious about helping the world meet the 2030 fossil fuel reduction deadlines set by the scientific community, it will have to do much more.”

 

Locally, CARI will participate in a national three-day Earth Day climate strike in April, which will include a national day of climate action against Chase Bank on April 23 in coordination with the StopTheMoneyPipeline movement:  Stop the Money Pipeline

CARI has held multiple protests at the two sites recently opened by Chase in Rhode Island and Chase plans to open 10 more here.

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