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A 2015 protest targets banks as climate change profiteers. (Photo: Peg Hunter/flickr/cc)
'Great News for the Climate' as Banking Giant Ditches Tar Sands, Arctic Drilling
Climate campaigners praise move by BNP Paribas, call on other banks to follow suit
Oct 11, 2017
In a move being hailed as a win for the climate, banking giant BNP Paribas announced Wednesday that it is severing ties with companies whose main business is connected to shale and/or oil from tar sands, will stop financing transportation projects for such fuels, and will not finance any oil or gas projects in the Arctic region.
“In concrete terms,” writes Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, director and CEO of BNP Paribas, “these decisions mean that we will cease providing finance to a number of companies and organizations that are not making an effort to be part of the transition to a less greenhouse gas-emitting economy.”
\u201cQui ne financera pas Keystone XL ni aucun autre projet de sables bitumineux ? @BNPParibas ! On attend la m\u00eame chose des autres banques !\u201d— Les Amis de la Terre FR (@Les Amis de la Terre FR) 1507744286
\u201cBIG NEWS! @BNPParibas, 8th largest bank in the world, will no longer finance tar sands pipelines. https://t.co/m53d0C3wZy RT to celebrate!\u201d— Greenpeace Canada (@Greenpeace Canada) 1507734864
According to Lucie Pinson, Friends of the Earth France’s private finance campaigner, it’s “great news for the climate and a huge victory for the groups who have been mobilizing in support of Indigenous peoples who are on the front line of the impacts of tar sands, shale gas, and LNG projects in North America.”
Her organization, along with other climate groups, was behind a report (pdf) issued earlier this year that denounced the bank for “contributing to a range of serious potential climate, environmental, and social impacts” through its financial help for a proposed Texas LNG project. A press statement from the group notes that the decision means the bank won’t finance the export terminal in the Rio Grande Valley.
Alex Speers-Roesch, an oil campaigner with Greenpeace Canada, similarly called it “a testament to the diligent work of Indigenous activists, environmental groups, concerned citizens, and everyone advocating to reform the financial sector.”
“More and more banks and investment funds recognize that in order to preserve their reputations and long-term financial performance, tar sands pipelines, and other extreme fossil fuel projects are not the way to go,” he added. “Banks such as TD and Desjardins, that stake their reputations on being socially responsible, should expect growing resistance if they continue to fund pipelines such as Kinder Morgan.”
Patrick McCully, director of Rainforest Action Network’s Climate and Energy Program, also draws attention to ”JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. funder of tar sands,” saying that it and other U.S. banks “now need to decide if they want to continue to follow the Trump dirty energy agenda, or change course and get in alignment with those trying to avert climate disaster.”
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environmentfossil fuelsfrackingfriends of the earthkeystone xlrainforest action networktar sandswall street
In a move being hailed as a win for the climate, banking giant BNP Paribas announced Wednesday that it is severing ties with companies whose main business is connected to shale and/or oil from tar sands, will stop financing transportation projects for such fuels, and will not finance any oil or gas projects in the Arctic region.
“In concrete terms,” writes Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, director and CEO of BNP Paribas, “these decisions mean that we will cease providing finance to a number of companies and organizations that are not making an effort to be part of the transition to a less greenhouse gas-emitting economy.”
\u201cQui ne financera pas Keystone XL ni aucun autre projet de sables bitumineux ? @BNPParibas ! On attend la m\u00eame chose des autres banques !\u201d— Les Amis de la Terre FR (@Les Amis de la Terre FR) 1507744286
\u201cBIG NEWS! @BNPParibas, 8th largest bank in the world, will no longer finance tar sands pipelines. https://t.co/m53d0C3wZy RT to celebrate!\u201d— Greenpeace Canada (@Greenpeace Canada) 1507734864
According to Lucie Pinson, Friends of the Earth France’s private finance campaigner, it’s “great news for the climate and a huge victory for the groups who have been mobilizing in support of Indigenous peoples who are on the front line of the impacts of tar sands, shale gas, and LNG projects in North America.”
Her organization, along with other climate groups, was behind a report (pdf) issued earlier this year that denounced the bank for “contributing to a range of serious potential climate, environmental, and social impacts” through its financial help for a proposed Texas LNG project. A press statement from the group notes that the decision means the bank won’t finance the export terminal in the Rio Grande Valley.
Alex Speers-Roesch, an oil campaigner with Greenpeace Canada, similarly called it “a testament to the diligent work of Indigenous activists, environmental groups, concerned citizens, and everyone advocating to reform the financial sector.”
“More and more banks and investment funds recognize that in order to preserve their reputations and long-term financial performance, tar sands pipelines, and other extreme fossil fuel projects are not the way to go,” he added. “Banks such as TD and Desjardins, that stake their reputations on being socially responsible, should expect growing resistance if they continue to fund pipelines such as Kinder Morgan.”
Patrick McCully, director of Rainforest Action Network’s Climate and Energy Program, also draws attention to ”JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. funder of tar sands,” saying that it and other U.S. banks “now need to decide if they want to continue to follow the Trump dirty energy agenda, or change course and get in alignment with those trying to avert climate disaster.”
In a move being hailed as a win for the climate, banking giant BNP Paribas announced Wednesday that it is severing ties with companies whose main business is connected to shale and/or oil from tar sands, will stop financing transportation projects for such fuels, and will not finance any oil or gas projects in the Arctic region.
“In concrete terms,” writes Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, director and CEO of BNP Paribas, “these decisions mean that we will cease providing finance to a number of companies and organizations that are not making an effort to be part of the transition to a less greenhouse gas-emitting economy.”
\u201cQui ne financera pas Keystone XL ni aucun autre projet de sables bitumineux ? @BNPParibas ! On attend la m\u00eame chose des autres banques !\u201d— Les Amis de la Terre FR (@Les Amis de la Terre FR) 1507744286
\u201cBIG NEWS! @BNPParibas, 8th largest bank in the world, will no longer finance tar sands pipelines. https://t.co/m53d0C3wZy RT to celebrate!\u201d— Greenpeace Canada (@Greenpeace Canada) 1507734864
According to Lucie Pinson, Friends of the Earth France’s private finance campaigner, it’s “great news for the climate and a huge victory for the groups who have been mobilizing in support of Indigenous peoples who are on the front line of the impacts of tar sands, shale gas, and LNG projects in North America.”
Her organization, along with other climate groups, was behind a report (pdf) issued earlier this year that denounced the bank for “contributing to a range of serious potential climate, environmental, and social impacts” through its financial help for a proposed Texas LNG project. A press statement from the group notes that the decision means the bank won’t finance the export terminal in the Rio Grande Valley.
Alex Speers-Roesch, an oil campaigner with Greenpeace Canada, similarly called it “a testament to the diligent work of Indigenous activists, environmental groups, concerned citizens, and everyone advocating to reform the financial sector.”
“More and more banks and investment funds recognize that in order to preserve their reputations and long-term financial performance, tar sands pipelines, and other extreme fossil fuel projects are not the way to go,” he added. “Banks such as TD and Desjardins, that stake their reputations on being socially responsible, should expect growing resistance if they continue to fund pipelines such as Kinder Morgan.”
Patrick McCully, director of Rainforest Action Network’s Climate and Energy Program, also draws attention to ”JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. funder of tar sands,” saying that it and other U.S. banks “now need to decide if they want to continue to follow the Trump dirty energy agenda, or change course and get in alignment with those trying to avert climate disaster.”
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“Israel kills every day and nothing happens,” said Algeria’s UN ambassador. “Israel starves a people and nothing happens. Israel bombs hospitals, schools, shelters, and nothing happens.”
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Against a backdrop of Israel's genocidal obliteration of Gaza City and a worsening man-made famine throughout the embattled Palestinian exclave, the United States on Thursday cast its sixth United Nations Security Council veto of a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages held by Hamas.
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Morgan Ortagus, President Donald Trump's deputy special envoy to the Middle East, vetoed the proposal, saying that the move "will come as no surprise," as the US has killed five previous UNSC Gaza ceasefire resolutions under both the Biden and Trump administrations, most recently in June.
Ortagus said the resolution failed to condemn Hamas or affirm Israel's right to self-defense and “wrongly legitimizes the false narratives benefiting Hamas, which have sadly found currency in this council."
The US has unconditionally provided Israel with billions of dollars worth of armed aid and diplomatic cover since October 2023 as the key Mideast ally wages a war increasingly viewed as genocidal, including by a commission of independent UN experts this week.
Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said the torpedoed resolution represented the "bare minimum" that must be accomplished, adding that “it is deeply regrettable and painful that it has been blocked.”
“Babies dying of starvation, snipers shooting people in the head, civilians killed en masse, families displaced again and again... humanitarians and journalists targeted... while Israeli officials are openly mocking all of this," Mansour added.
Following the UNSC's latest failure to pass a ceasefire resolution, Algerian Ambassador to the UN Amar Bendjama asked Gazans to "forgive" the body for not only its inability to approve such measures, but also for failing to stop the Gaza famine, in which at least hundreds of Palestinians have died and hundreds of thousands more are starving. Every UNSC members but the US concurred last month that the Gaza famine is a man-made catastrophe.
“Israel kills every day and nothing happens," Bendjama said. "Israel starves a people and nothing happens. Israel bombs hospitals, schools, shelters, and nothing happens. Israel attacks a mediator and steps on diplomacy, and nothing happens. And with every act, every act unpunished, humanity itself is diminished.”
Benjama also asked Gazans to "forgive us" for failing to protect children in the strip, more than 20,000 of whom have been killed by Israeli bombs, bullets, and blockade over the past 713 days. He also noted that upward of 12,000 women, 4,000 elderly, 1,400 doctors and nurses, 500 aid workers, and 250 journalists “have been killed by Israel."
Condemning Thursday's veto, Hamas accused the US of “blatant complicity in the crime of genocide," which Israel is accused of committing in an ongoing International Court of Justice (ICJ) case filed in December 2023 by South Africa and backed by around two dozen nations.
Hamas—which led the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and is believed to be holding 20 hostages left alive out of 251 people kidnapped that day—implored the countries that sponsored the ceasefire resolution to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who along with former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, to accept an agreement to halt hostilities.
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) announced on Thursday that he filed a motion to subpoena Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr one day after he publicly warned ABC of negative consequences if the network kept Kimmel on the air.
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