New York, NY – On June 2, 2021 climate activists with Stop the Money Pipeline, displayed a giant banner depicting the destruction in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria outside Chase Bank branches in midtown Manhattan, calling on the banking giant to stop investing in fossil fuel projects driving catastrophic climate change.
In May 2021, Chase Bank released their 2030 climate targets, following on the bank’s October 2020 pledge to “align with the Paris Agreement.” Chase is the world’s largest banker of fossil fuels, providing $317 billion in lending and underwriting to the fossil fuel industry since the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted. The bank’s focus on ‘carbon intensity’ enables the bank to expand fossil fuel financing.
Chase’s provides financing for 57 of the 75 companies doing the most to expand upstream and midstream oil and gas. Indeed, nine of its top ten fossil clients — TC Energy, Exxon, and so on — are planning both massive oil and gas expansion, and intensity reductions. Exxon, for example — JPMorgan Chase’s number 2 fossil client since Paris, with $7.5 billion in financing just last year — already plans a reduction in intensity that exceeds what JPMorgan Chase is calling for, as well as the second-most new oil and gas extraction of any company in the world.
The science is clear: we need to cut global total emissions in half by 2030. An exclusive focus on carbon intensity is a page from big oil’s playbook for climate delay, and legitimates the continuation of destructive business-as-usual practices from Chase’s top fossil clients.
Burning fossil fuels are directly related to increased global temperatures and the warming of the oceans, causing increased severity of hurricanes and tropical storms. Chase is a direct financier to the destruction and harm in Puerto Rico. Communities are still recovering from the personal loss and damage of Hurricane Maria.
To stop climate destruction, human rights abuses and to truly align with climate stability, Chase has to stop financing expansion of fossil fuels and commit to zeroing out its fossil financing on a 1.5°C-compatible timeline.
© Erik McGregor – erikrivas@hotmail.com – 917-225-8963