October, 09 2015, 03:15pm EDT
Climate Activists Protest Morgan Stanley in 9 Major US Cities & Turkey
Hundreds Rally in NYC, SF, LA, DC, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston & Istanbul
WASHINGTON
Today, Rainforest Action Network led rallies outside of Morgan Stanley bank branches in 9 US cities and Istanbul as the next major step for their global campaign to pressure Morgan Stanley to stop coal financing. Hundreds gathered outside of the New York City headquarters, as well as Houston, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, where Rainforest Action Network is based.
"Climate activists across the nation are taking action today to send Morgan Stanley a clear message," said Rainforest Action Network Executive Director Lindsey Allen. "This bank can claim to be a leader in sustainability, but lending billions to the some of the largest and dirtiest coal companies in the industry proves otherwise."
On Monday, Citigroup announced cuts in coal financing after months of pressure from RAN. Last May, RAN successfully pushed Bank of America to cut financing for coal mining after a four-year campaign. Since then, RAN has been working behind the scenes to push Wall Street banks to meet or exceed Bank of America's policy. Morgan Stanley is the next major target as it continues to finance coal's worst of the worst.
Morgan Stanley finances the biggest corporate players in coal around the world. Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley helped Peabody Energy refinance a billion dollars worth of debt through the bond markets. Peabody is the world's largest private sector coal mining company and produced 250 million tons of coal last year. The bank also finances Europe's largest single emitter of carbon dioxide, the mining and power giant RWE. Last month, over a thousand activists occupied an RWE open-pit coal mine, halting coal production and spotlighting RWE as an example of a company that is incompatible with a low-carbon future.
Its recent loans and bonds have flowed to controversial operators of mountaintop removal coal mines such as Alpha Natural Resources that continue to blast off the tops of mountains and force communities in Appalachia to live with dangerous air and water pollution. And among operators of coal-fired power plants, Morgan Stanley's clients include FirstEnergy, which is currently lobbying regulators to force customers to bail out its fleet of unprofitable coal plants.
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is headquartered in San Francisco, California with offices staff in Tokyo, Japan, and Edmonton, Canada, plus thousands of volunteer scientists, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens around the world. We believe that a sustainable world can be created in our lifetime and that aggressive action must be taken immediately to leave a safe and secure world for our children.
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