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Koala Kollektiv activists taking action outside the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany calling for the central bank to stop funding fossil fuels and climate chaos. (Photo: Koala Kollektiv via 350.org)
Ahead of COP 26, Worldwide Mobilizations Launched to Demand Big Banks End Fossil Fuel Destruction
"The era of fossil fuels is over, and people are rallying against fossil finance and those who run it."
Oct 29, 2021
Friday marked the start of a suite of coordination global actions by climate activists demanding financial institutions stop backing fossil fuel projects.
"Financial institutions who run our economies... must do their part by halting all of their funding of climate chaos."
"The era of fossil fuels is over, and people are rallying against fossil finance and those who run it," said Farzana Faruk, climate justice activist from Fridays for Future Bangladesh, and member of the Most Affected Peoples and Areas (MAPA), in a statement.
Faruk urged "decision-makers and financial institutions to seize the opportunity to speed up climate action and build healthier, more equitable societies and resilient economies" and called it "past time for rich countries and financial institutions to fund the energy transition we need fast and at scale."
The wave of actions--slated to take place in over two dozen countries--kicked off two days before the United Nations COP 26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Protest, rallies, and other activities are set to continue through the summit's mid-point on Nov. 6.
Among the U.S. events taking place Friday is the "Fed Up!" climate justice march and rally outside the Chicago branch of the Federal Reserve.
In London, meanwhile, activists on Friday targeted Lloyd's of London's, where they vowed to "shed light on [the institution's] appalling environmental record, and the colonialist practices Lloyd's wealth grew from. From the insurance of slave ships, to the insurance of climate-destroying projects that dispossess indigenous peoples of their land, Lloyd's have blood on their hands."
Actions also took place in major cities around the world, including Sydney, Frankfurt, and Paris.
\u201cRecap \ud83e\uddf5of our #DefundClimateChaos action today in Warrang/Sydney with the excellent people at @ap4ca, @GalileeBlockade and @stopadani \n\nWe demand that @BNYMellon\ud83c\udf49 rule out financing deals for @AdaniOnline's Carmichael coal project. \n\n\ud83d\udcf8: Dean Sewell\u201d— Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (@Australian Religious Response to Climate Change) 1635501155
\u201cEn direct de Place de la bourse pour d\u00e9noncer les financeurs complices de @TotalEnergies\u201d— 350.org - France (@350.org - France) 1635489093
"Urgent collective action is required, especially for the most affected nations and communities," said Joseph Sikulu, 350.org Pacific managing director, in a statement. "Financial institutions who run our economies, especially banks in developed countries, must do their part by halting all of their funding of climate chaos, and directing resources to climate finance for adaptation and mitigation."
"COP 26 will be a pivotal event," he added, "and failure to deliver on its goals means bringing literal disaster not just for Pacific Islanders but for communities across the world."
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Friday marked the start of a suite of coordination global actions by climate activists demanding financial institutions stop backing fossil fuel projects.
"Financial institutions who run our economies... must do their part by halting all of their funding of climate chaos."
"The era of fossil fuels is over, and people are rallying against fossil finance and those who run it," said Farzana Faruk, climate justice activist from Fridays for Future Bangladesh, and member of the Most Affected Peoples and Areas (MAPA), in a statement.
Faruk urged "decision-makers and financial institutions to seize the opportunity to speed up climate action and build healthier, more equitable societies and resilient economies" and called it "past time for rich countries and financial institutions to fund the energy transition we need fast and at scale."
The wave of actions--slated to take place in over two dozen countries--kicked off two days before the United Nations COP 26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Protest, rallies, and other activities are set to continue through the summit's mid-point on Nov. 6.
Among the U.S. events taking place Friday is the "Fed Up!" climate justice march and rally outside the Chicago branch of the Federal Reserve.
In London, meanwhile, activists on Friday targeted Lloyd's of London's, where they vowed to "shed light on [the institution's] appalling environmental record, and the colonialist practices Lloyd's wealth grew from. From the insurance of slave ships, to the insurance of climate-destroying projects that dispossess indigenous peoples of their land, Lloyd's have blood on their hands."
Actions also took place in major cities around the world, including Sydney, Frankfurt, and Paris.
\u201cRecap \ud83e\uddf5of our #DefundClimateChaos action today in Warrang/Sydney with the excellent people at @ap4ca, @GalileeBlockade and @stopadani \n\nWe demand that @BNYMellon\ud83c\udf49 rule out financing deals for @AdaniOnline's Carmichael coal project. \n\n\ud83d\udcf8: Dean Sewell\u201d— Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (@Australian Religious Response to Climate Change) 1635501155
\u201cEn direct de Place de la bourse pour d\u00e9noncer les financeurs complices de @TotalEnergies\u201d— 350.org - France (@350.org - France) 1635489093
"Urgent collective action is required, especially for the most affected nations and communities," said Joseph Sikulu, 350.org Pacific managing director, in a statement. "Financial institutions who run our economies, especially banks in developed countries, must do their part by halting all of their funding of climate chaos, and directing resources to climate finance for adaptation and mitigation."
"COP 26 will be a pivotal event," he added, "and failure to deliver on its goals means bringing literal disaster not just for Pacific Islanders but for communities across the world."
Friday marked the start of a suite of coordination global actions by climate activists demanding financial institutions stop backing fossil fuel projects.
"Financial institutions who run our economies... must do their part by halting all of their funding of climate chaos."
"The era of fossil fuels is over, and people are rallying against fossil finance and those who run it," said Farzana Faruk, climate justice activist from Fridays for Future Bangladesh, and member of the Most Affected Peoples and Areas (MAPA), in a statement.
Faruk urged "decision-makers and financial institutions to seize the opportunity to speed up climate action and build healthier, more equitable societies and resilient economies" and called it "past time for rich countries and financial institutions to fund the energy transition we need fast and at scale."
The wave of actions--slated to take place in over two dozen countries--kicked off two days before the United Nations COP 26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Protest, rallies, and other activities are set to continue through the summit's mid-point on Nov. 6.
Among the U.S. events taking place Friday is the "Fed Up!" climate justice march and rally outside the Chicago branch of the Federal Reserve.
In London, meanwhile, activists on Friday targeted Lloyd's of London's, where they vowed to "shed light on [the institution's] appalling environmental record, and the colonialist practices Lloyd's wealth grew from. From the insurance of slave ships, to the insurance of climate-destroying projects that dispossess indigenous peoples of their land, Lloyd's have blood on their hands."
Actions also took place in major cities around the world, including Sydney, Frankfurt, and Paris.
\u201cRecap \ud83e\uddf5of our #DefundClimateChaos action today in Warrang/Sydney with the excellent people at @ap4ca, @GalileeBlockade and @stopadani \n\nWe demand that @BNYMellon\ud83c\udf49 rule out financing deals for @AdaniOnline's Carmichael coal project. \n\n\ud83d\udcf8: Dean Sewell\u201d— Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (@Australian Religious Response to Climate Change) 1635501155
\u201cEn direct de Place de la bourse pour d\u00e9noncer les financeurs complices de @TotalEnergies\u201d— 350.org - France (@350.org - France) 1635489093
"Urgent collective action is required, especially for the most affected nations and communities," said Joseph Sikulu, 350.org Pacific managing director, in a statement. "Financial institutions who run our economies, especially banks in developed countries, must do their part by halting all of their funding of climate chaos, and directing resources to climate finance for adaptation and mitigation."
"COP 26 will be a pivotal event," he added, "and failure to deliver on its goals means bringing literal disaster not just for Pacific Islanders but for communities across the world."
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LATEST NEWS
EJ Antoni, Trump's Pick for Key Economic Post, Spotted in Jan 6 MAGA Mob
"The inmates are not only running the asylum. They're bringing in more inmates to help," said one observer.
Aug 14, 2025
EJ Antoni, President Donald Trump's controversial nominee to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was among the insurrectionist mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, NBC News revealed Wednesday.
Video footage archived from the right-wing social media site Parler and posted online by a Republican-led congressional subcommittee shows Antoni among the crowd about half an hour before the MAGA mob began breaching barricades, attacking police, and swarming the Capitol. He is also seen walking away from the crowd.
The White House attempted to downplay the news, with spokesperson Taylor Rogers saying that "these pictures show E.J. Antoni, a bystander to the events of January 6th, observing and then leaving the Capitol area."
"E.J. was in town for meetings, and it is wrong and defamatory to suggest E.J. engaged in anything inappropriate or illegal," Rogers added.
See the man circled here? That's E.J. Antoni, Trump's Bureau of Labor Statistics nominee, walking through a crowd of Capitol rioters.#ICYMI, we've got an archive of 500+ Parler videos taken during Jan. 6. You can spot Antoni starting at around 1:41 here: projects.propublica.org/parler-capit...
[image or embed]
— ProPublica (@propublica.org) August 14, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Other MAGA figures also defended Antoni. Felonious fraudster Steve Bannon, who pleaded guilty in a border wall fundraising fraud case this year, said Thursday on his War Room podcast: "They came up with a photo of E.J. Antoni in the crowd outside the Capitol on January 6, and NBC went absolutely nuts over it. I think it makes E.J. even more based. I didn't know that about E.J.—makes us want him even more."
Critics, however, expressed alarm, given the important post to which Antoni was nominated.
"We just discovered a Trump [Department of Justice] official was at January 6, telling other traitors to 'kill' police," journalist and attorney Adam Cohen wrote on the social media site Bluesky, referring to Jared Wise, who was pardoned by Trump.
"Now we learn Trump's BLS nominee, E.J. Antoni—apart from being totally unqualified—was ALSO part of the insurrection," Cohen added. "The inmates are not only running the asylum. They're bringing in MORE inmates to help."
The West Virginia Federation of Democratic Women noted on the social media site X that "Trump fired the vetted woman who reported honest stats on job losses. His new guy was in the mob on January 6 and wrote Project 2025."
Journalist Ahmed Baba wrote on X: "So, E.J. Antoni is the chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, a contributor to Project 2025, and was literally outside the Capitol on January 6. This is who Trump wants to be in charge of the BLS data that shapes global decisions and moves markets—an extremist sycophant."
Trump nominated Antoni after firing former BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, whom the president accused without evidence of manipulating employment statistics to discredit him and other Republicans.
Trump-GOP Medicaid Cuts Already Causing Healthcare Havoc in Multiple States
"These reductions may cause some providers to stop accepting Medicaid patients," said a spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
Aug 14, 2025
The cuts to Medicaid contained in the recently passed Republican budget law are already having a damaging impact in multiple states, as both local hospitals and state governments struggle financially to make up funding gaps.
As NC Newsline reported on Wednesday, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) has announced plans to cut Medicaid spending by $319 million starting on October 1, which the publication said "means the state will reduce rates by 3% to all medical providers, as well as cuts of 8-10% for inpatient and residential services and 10% for behavioral therapy and analysis for patients with autism."
NCDHHS spokesperson Summer Tonizzo did not sugarcoat the impact that the cuts would have on services for Medicaid patients in her state. She said that services including hospice care, behavioral health long-term care, and nursing home services could see reimbursement cuts significantly steeper than 3%.
"These reductions may cause some providers to stop accepting Medicaid patients, as the lowered rates could make it financially unsustainable to continue offering care," she said.
The Tar Heel State isn't the only one reeling from Medicaid cuts, as Colorado Public Radio reported that the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which manages the state's Medicaid program, held a webinar this week in which it outlined plans to, in the words of department director Kim Bimestefer, "mitigate the loss of coverage and its catastrophic consequences to Coloradans, providers, and the economy."
This will be easier said than done, however, as Colorado Public Radio noted that numbers reviewed by the department estimate that "hundreds of thousands" of residents in the state could lose healthcare access thanks to cuts from the GOP budget package.
In addition to people who will lose coverage thanks to the work requirements passed in the legislation, an estimated 112,000 people who buy health insurance policies from state exchanges could lose it after the expected expiration of enhanced tax credits passed by Democrats during former President Joe Biden's term.
Taking a look at the broader nationwide picture, Stateline reported that even some Republicans attending the National Conference of State Legislatures summit in Boston this week expressed anxiety about the impact the cuts will have on the people whom they represent.
The publication quoted Oklahoma state Sen. John Haste, who said during the summit that he was particularly concerned about the impact the cuts would have on rural communities. Among other things, he pointed to a provision in the law that will deliver a $209 million cut in Medicaid funds to Oklahoma, as well as the fact that complying with work requirement verifications will cost an estimated $30 million.
"All of those things added together come up to a really big number," said Haste. "We don't know exactly what that is."
Hawaii Democratic state Sen. Ronald Kouchi said during the summit that the impact of the Medicaid cuts would be absolutely brutal, but added that the only thing Democrats can do for now is make sure their voters know whom to blame for what's happening.
"Who's going to be blamed when people are left out, when people are hungry and they lose out on educational opportunities?" he asked during a panel discussion. "If we as state legislators do not convey that it is a result of the decisionmakers in Washington, D.C., they will be at our doorstep as the place of last resort."
Trump May 'Fabricate a National Emergency' to Extend DC Takeover Without Congressional Support
"Emergency powers are the lifeblood of authoritarians," said a former Republican congressman.
Aug 14, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday he may declare a national emergency to circumvent Congress and continue his military occupation of Washington, D.C. indefinitely.
Under the Home Rule Act, the president is allowed to unilaterally take control of law enforcement in the nation's capital for 30 days. After that, Congress must extend its authorization through a joint resolution.
The authorization would need 60 votes to break the Senate filibuster, meaning some Democrats would need to sign on. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said there's "no fucking way" they would, adding that some Republicans would likely vote against it as well.
During a speech at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, Trump said that if Congress won't approve his indefinite deployment of the National Guard, he'll just invoke emergency powers.
"If it's a national emergency, we can do it without Congress, but we expect to be before Congress very quickly," Trump said.
"I don't want to call a national emergency," Trump said, before adding, "If I have to, I will."
Announcing his federal takeover of the D.C. police, Trump said he would authorize the cops to "do whatever the hell they want" when patrolling the city.
On Wednesday, a day after troops deployed to D.C., federal agents set up a security checkpoint on the busy 14th Street Northwest Corridor, where Newsweek reports that they have been conducting random stops, which have previously been ruled unconstitutional.
One eyewitness described seeing agents "in unmarked cars without badges pulling people out of their cars and taking them away."
Other similar scenes of what appear to be random and arbitrary stops and arrests have been documented around the city.
"President Trump fabricated the 'emergency' that's required to exist for a president to federalize D.C. Police," said Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's nonvoting congressional delegate on X. "He admitted to reporters today that he's willing to fabricate a national emergency in order to try to extend his power."
It would not be the first time Trump called a national emergency in an attempt to suspend the usual checks on his power.
In 2019—despite border crossings being at historic lows—he declared a national emergency to reroute billions of dollars to construct his border wall after Congress refused to approve it. He has also declared a national emergency at the U.S. border.
He has used national emergency declarations even more liberally in his second term, including to send U.S. troops to the Southern border, to expedite oil drilling projects, and to enact extreme tariffs without congressional approval.
According to Joseph Nunn, a legal scholar at the Brennan Center for Justice, Trump is already abusing the language of the Home Rule Act, which only allows D.C. law enforcement to be federalized in "special conditions of an emergency nature."
Though the law does not explicitly define what constitutes a "national emergency," Nunn says, "the word 'emergency' has meaning. An emergency is a sudden crisis, an unexpected change in circumstances." That would be at odds with the facts on the ground in D.C., where crime has fallen dramatically over the past year.
After Trump floated using a national emergency to extend his occupation of D.C., Justin Amash—a former Republican congressman who was ousted in 2021 after breaking with Trump—wrote on X that "emergency powers are the lifeblood of authoritarians."
"Once established in law, they're nearly impossible to revoke because a president can veto any bill curtailing the power," Amash said. "We always live under dozens of active 'national emergencies,' almost none of which are true emergencies."
Trump also said he was working with congressional Republicans on a "crime bill" that will "pertain initially to D.C." but will be expanded to apply to other blue cities like Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Despite Trump's portrayal of these cities as crime-ridden hellscapes, crime is falling in every single one of them.
"What Donald Trump is doing is, in some ways, a dress rehearsal for going after others around the country. And I think we need to stop this—certainly by the end of the 30 days," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). "This should never have started, so I definitely want to make sure it doesn't continue."
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