To:  James Dimon
CEO, JPMorgan Chase

From: Climate Action Rhode Island
March 15, 2021

Dear Mr. Dimon:

Members of Climate Action Rhode Island (CARI) call upon Chase Bank to cancel its financing of Enbridge, the company building the Line 3 pipeline.

Line 3, if built, would have the equivalent negative impact on the planet as building 50 coal-fired power plants. It is being challenged in court and on the ground at its construction sites by numerous Native American groups, whose lands, air and waters it threatens, and their allies.

We’ve been hearing from Chase Bank for years that Chase really cares about the environment and is just about to make some big moves to prove it, but so far Chase remains the world’s #1 funder of fossil fuels and keeps funding Enbridge, the company building the Line 3 pipeline. This pipeline, if completed, will deliver the dirtiest fossil fuel on earth, tar sands oil, at twice the current rate of speed. 

The Line 3 pipeline would also increase spill risk in communities that sit along tar sands pipeline routes, many of which run through America’s agricultural heartland. Tar sands oil is thicker and more acidic than conventional crude, increasing the likelihood that a pipeline carrying it will leak. Complicating matters, leaks can be difficult to detect, and when tar sands oil does spill, it is far more detrimental to sensitive water resources.

As you no doubt know, the world’s scientific community has said that in order to limit the damage to the planet from the growing climate catastrophe, the world must cut its burning of fossil fuels in half by 2030. Nevertheless, Chase keeps funding more of these projects, including exploration for more of the fossil fuels causing all the damage!

Chase Bank announced in October it will align itself with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, but a series of vague statements and announcements don’t make it so. Real alignment with the Paris Agreement requires concrete steps: most importantly, that Chase stop financing all new fossil fuel projects such as Line 3 now and start phasing out its existing fossil fuel funding.

Last May, just under 50% of JPMorgan Chase shareholders voted for a resolution that called upon the bank to explain exactly how it will align its activities with the Paris Climate Agreement, but Chase has not met this urgent request.

CARI demands that Chase honor Indigenous rights, protect our climate, and deny any lending to Enbridge. CARI members and other climate activists across the country are calling and emailing the executives of those banks financing Enbridge and its Line 3 pipeline.

In the context of the worst wildfire and hurricane seasons in history, the increasing collapse of the polar ice sheets, a rapidly rising global temperature, and many more clear signs of a planet in deep distress, it’s way past time for Chase to put the planet and all living things above its own short-term profits.

We again call upon Chase to stop its financing of new fossil fuel projects now, begin the phase-out of its current fossil fuel projects immediately, and reinvest the many saved billions of dollars into renewable energy projects. 

Until Chase takes these concrete steps, CARI and the many other climate, environmental, and citizen groups and networks around the country and world will continue our call for everyone to boycott Chase Bank, cut up their Amazon, Starbucks, and other Chase-backed credit cards, and treat Chase like the destructive actor it is.

 

Sincerely,
The members of Climate Action Rhode Island, including:

• Justin Boyan, President ([email protected])
• Brian Wilder, Stop Chase coordinator ([email protected])