Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiCitigroup, Bank of America Raked Over Coal
WASHINGTON - U.S. environmentalists seeking to turn up the heat on the coal industry, which they blame for a litany of problems, are targeting two banks they say have taken the lead in financing mines.
Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are the targets of a new campaign launched Tuesday by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN).
The effort also is aimed at shoring up U.S. credibility on climate change in future talks with China and India, which lead the world in burning coal, a principal source of the heat-trapping gas carbon dioxide.
"From cradle to grave, coal is dirty," said Rebecca Tarbotton, the group's global finance campaign director.
The banks can expect "a ruckus in the streets" and questions from shareholders but plans do not call for consumer boycotts, Tarbotton said.
To press its cause, RAN has teamed up with the Interfaith Council on Corporate Responsibility, an investment network of 275-plus religious institutions, and organisers of Step It Up, a series of nationwide anti-global warming demonstrations, the next of which is planned for Nov. 3.
The banks had no direct comment on the campaign but told IPS they embraced environmental concerns.
"Citi, together with its clients, environmental organisations and other stakeholders, is taking a responsible and strong leadership position on climate change and is on record as supporting comprehensive efforts to move forward on the complicated issue of climate change," said Citi spokeswoman Valerie Hendy. "Moreover, we have committed 50 billion dollars, more than any other institution, over the next 10 years for climate-friendly efforts."
The world's largest bank received top marks from the Carbon Disclosure Project, an independent organisation that works with shareholders and corporations, for its efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, Hendy added. Citi has promised a 10-percent cut in carbon emissions from its operations by 2011 "and we are investing in climate-friendly enterprises and engaging with our clients on their carbon reduction efforts," she said.
A Bank of America spokesman said coal remained vital to the U.S. power supply.
"The reality is that, as a country, over 50 percent of the electricity we all consume comes from coal," said the spokesman, Ernesto Anguilla. "Bank of America is aggressively investing in and financing the development and use of cleaner renewable energies."
Campaigners said the banks were not doing enough.
Citi's 50-billion-dollar pledge, made in May, "may seem like a significant commitment [but] it amounts to less than 0.2 percent of the company's 2.2 trillion dollars in assets," RAN said.
Last year alone, Citi provided 200 times more financing for "dirty energy" than it did for alternative technologies such as wind, solar, or geothermal power, Tarbotton said.
Likewise, RAN decried as insufficient a recent Bank of America pledge to support eco-friendly businesses and to address climate change. Last year, it added, the firm spent nearly 100 times more money on high-polluting projects than it did on cleaner alternatives.
Electricity generated from coal is the leading cause of global warming in the United States, according to RAN. It also is the largest source of toxic mercury and a top contributor to air pollution, asthma, and ecological destruction.
Coal is abundant: The United States is estimated to have around 200 years' worth of reserves, mostly under the Appalachian Mountains and in the Southwest. Interest in coal is rising amid increasing demand for energy and pressure to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
Already, plans call for the construction of 150 new coal-fired power plants across the country. Citi and Bank of America rank among the top lenders to companies involved in the expansion, according to RAN.
"This new coal rush would add between 600 million and 1.1 billion tonnes of additional carbon dioxide emissions annually and negate nearly every other effort currently on the table to combat climate change," the group said, adding that each new power plant would have a lifespan of about 50 years.
If the plans are realised, "in the next five years the U.S. coal power sector will exceed India's and rival China's," said Tarbotton.
In consequence, "the United States will have no credibility in trying to get them to clean up their acts," added Step It Up founder Bill McKibben.
Coal mining is responsible for thousands of deaths each year and the ruin of entire ecosystems and communities, RAN said in a report released to coincide with the launch of the campaign.
Coal companies say they are working to reduce carbon emissions by developing cleaner, more efficient fuel. Their opponents insist that future energy demand should be met by tapping renewable sources that are clean and in infinite supply. Among these are the wind, sun, tides, and heat trapped under the earth.
"We basically have better options," said Tarbotton.
© 2007 Inter Press Service
18 Comments so far
Show AllChase, Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp.may be the new Enron type accounting scandal
Public outrage stopped the building of 9 of the 13 coal fired plants that were being approved in Texas. The Govenor had to relent the pressure was so intense. So it's not just the banks that have to be hit HARD. We also have to find out where any new coal fired plants are seeking approval and nail them BEFORE they are approved.
Move any cash, direct deposits, CD's, credit cards, and anything else you may have into either a small locally owned bank or credit union.
It is my belief that the financial shit is going to hit the fan in the not so distant future. That is going to include the big banks, hedge funds, stocks, and a huge range of other large businesses. And with the value of the dollar sinking like a rock, it might not be a bad idea to trade what dollars you can spare on a 1 to 6 month supply of food, essentials, and stuff for barter.
What good is a media if very few watch or read it, just cancel your media service provider now.
"Here in coal country, the industry, while busting the last remanants of the UMWA, bombards us with slick TV ads and billboard campaigns making claims about new, "clean, green coal".
It is all utter bullshit."
It's utter bullshit, definitely, but the marketing strategy reflects how deep a change has come over the citizenry in just the last half-decade -- the global-warming-is-a-hoax gambit has failed, and failed to such an extent that I saw a story on early morning ABC News (not a regular watcher, just happened across it) which actually SAID that the oil companies had been funding a phony campaign.
These new ads are as striking a concession by the polluters as Louis XVI's donning the red cap of revolution. Doesn't mean they've submitted or are about to; it just signals the beginning of the shift in power.
Forget the banks; go to the source. Most banks are owned by insurance companies...you know, those guys in the legal extortion business.
Clark, when counting 50 billion in the next ten years, that is 5 billion a year... which would account for 0.2% per year of their total, 2.2 trillion in assets. I still don't think its a good calculation. What would be better would be to calculate 5 billion into how many trillions or billions the bank makes in investments every year and use that as a percentage. Still, coal should be phased out and the banks should have that as a focus, if indeed they are at all capable of making responsible policy.
2.2 Trillion... 50 Billion... 0.2 percent... nope. 5x10^10 / 2.2x10^12 = 5/2.2x10^2 = 5/220 = 2.27%... but what does being off by a factor of ten matter these days?
Ah! At least some people are seeing the light in spite of corporate attempts to push the "evrything is all right" message.
Just think about how much less buying power the US dollar has than when Bush took office.
It is directly attributable to the Iraq War.
Some of the other ills noted have been with us for years - most egregiously the lack of universal health care. Just look at Mr Reformed Alcoholic's veto of SCHIP and the boast that GOP House Members will uphold the veto. We are the only major (top30!) industrialized country without universal healthcare.
The government should be picking up the tab - not the union.
Turns out Bu$h the inferior hates children as much as he hates black people. This explains the 'no child left behind' punishment program. The more need a child has the less help the government will give.
Lovely
Citigroup is sitting on 2.2 TRILLION dollars in assets???????
And I have to pay hundreds of dollars to see a doctor? To eat?
FUQ this country and FUQ capitalism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I want to destroy.
People need to steal all they can from these banks, borrow all you can and never pay them back, it is clearly us vs. them, they obviously don't give a damn about the well being of society.
These major banks and corporations need to be dismantled and their wealth redistributed to the betterment of society. It will never happen but I think it should. Only uncivilized, unimaginative dinosaurs believe in our current economic system. There doesn't need to be one person sleeping in the streets, or one person without healthcare in this country with all that wealth sitting in banks.
Fuq America and eat sh*t assholezz.
Environmentally responsible funds are the best investments. Be wary of mutual funds at major brokerages. Ensure your investments are all GREEN.
"but plans do not call for consumer boycotts, Tarbotton said."
Yes, of course, you wouldn't want to do anything that might work. CitiGroup and Bank of America won't be harmed by some picketers and inquiring shareholders. That's because they only worry about the bottom line--profits. As long as your actions don't impact their profits, they will, sensibly, ignore your tired pleas.
The dollar plummets, so if you're filthy rich in China for example, US real estate is a real bargain. (So are military adventures, hell it's all for sale) Without uber-banks, none of the spectacular fun that we see in the world is going to happen. The average US grunt needs to continue shopping if he has a job, make ends meet with that credit, any losses are for the greater good.
Don't worry. Plans are already being executed for cutting the USA down to size. The inflation of stock market prices in US dollars is an indication: as the dollar buys less, stock prices will rise. The Euro is 40% above the dollar, the Canadian dollar has reached parity with no end in sight.
The USA will destroy its own economy by spending on arms, just like the Soviet Union did. The next move is to work for cessation of international arms sales.
The US standard of living is dropping, evidenced by acceptance of the new union contracts with low wages and transfer of health benefits to unions. Good luck in our new life. Buy MRE's and learn to camp out.
I keep asking myself: Why can't these banks invest in the future? With all the money they have available, these lending institutions could begin investing in new, clean, and infinite sources of energy that, once developed, would bring in profits, create new jobs, and stop the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains. And who owns these mountains that are literally having their tops cut off?
It just seems to me that if I were in their position, it makes great business sense to invest in new technologies that are going to have to be invented anyway. We put a man on the moon in ten years, what's stopping us from doing the same with energy? And what's even more frustrating is that this must be done if the Earth is going to survive.
However, and as always, I'm sure that there is someone out there who doesn't care about the future and is only taking the short view of immediate profits. What can be done to stop this? I mean, this area of the USA is (or was) beautiful. As a child, I used to love to go there for camping and hiking. The streams were clean and filled with life. I haven't been back to this area in probably over 25 years. I can't imagine what some areas look like today.
These banks will no doubt be also financing many new nuclear power plants, now that Congress has granted the nuclear industry loads of corporate welfare and sweet heart deals. The nuclear industry has been conducting a huge propaganda campaign to convince the world that nuclear power is the solution to fighting climate change. They forget to mention that uranium mining, processing, disposal, and plant construction create large quantities of greenhouse gases.
Here in coal country, the industry, while busting the last remanants of the UMWA, bombards us with slick TV ads and billboard campaigns making claims about new, "clean, green coal".
It is all utter bullshit.
For all the ambitious plans to mine and burn the stuff, there in not a single actual plan anywhere - eeven out to the farthest planning horizon, for these corporations to halt the emission of a single pound of CO2 from this huge expansion of coal-power. In fact aside from the insignificant contributions of boutique-market tokenism in the form CF lights and the "Chevy Volt", there is utterly zero consideration of carbon emissions in ANY corporation's operating plans for the next 30 years.
And, in light of the complete corporate ownership of what's left of govvernment, there is NO hope of any significant government action. My county cannot even consider a completely painless sales tax on poured alchoholic drinks to prevent the collpase of public transit* without facing a withering big-business phoney grassroots campaign. Ive never seen anything like it - big signs, cards on every table, and waiters ordered to go from table to table with petetions against it.
*compared to a single-occupant car, an average single day's commute using the bus prevents dozens of times less greenhouse gas emissions than a weeks use of CF bulbs throughout an entire home.