November, 13 2019, 11:00pm EDT
LUXEMBOURG
Today, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the world's largest international public bank and the EUR555bn lending arm of the EU, adopted a new lending policy that will cut finance to most fossil fuel projects as it tries to become the world's first 'climate bank'. Some countries including the German and Italian governments pushed for loopholes that could allow for dangerous fossil gas projects to be supported by the bank - campaigners will continue to fight against these.
"When the world's biggest public lender decides to largely ditch fossil fuels, financial markets across the globe will take notice: this is the beginning of the end of climate-wrecking fossil fuel finance. The gas lobby has unfortunately managed to get Germany and the European Commission to insert some loopholes into the policy, which leave the door open for funding of dangerous fossil gas projects. They had better take note of the growing list of pipelines, terminals and fracking wells that are scrapped thanks to local opposition and the unprecedented masses of people mobilising for climate justice," said Kate Cahoon, Germany Campaigner, 350.org.
This decision is a result for the tens of thousands of people around the world who have put pressure on the EIB to recognise it must go fossil free, as well as for the local groups across Europe who have been regularly protesting outside finance ministries and EIB offices. This move is not isolated; it comes amid growing pressure on financial institutions to cut their exposure to high-carbon projects and a collective move by Multilateral Development Banks to align their funding with the Paris agreement.
The EIB handed out EUR6.2 million every day to fossil fuel companies between 2013 and 2018 and provided security for millions more in private funding - so cutting this finance is another nail in the coffin for the fossil fuel industry. But the loopholes for fossil gas remain - any project added to the EU's 'Projects of Common Interest' (PCI) list before 2022 will still be eligible for EIB funding, and at present, there are more than 50 fossil gas projects included. The PCI list is yet to be finalised so there is still time to ensure the EIB doesn't lock Europe into decades of dependency on dangerous fossil fuels.
The European Commission, under pressure from the gas lobby, pushed EU member states to water down a stronger version of the policy that would have seen a more comprehensive ban on fossil fuel finance. This happened despite the need for the EU states to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and bring them down to net zero before 2050. Germany was also instrumental in watering down the first proposed policy, but the actions of Finance Minister Olaf Scholz in pushing for fossil fuel loopholes has precipitated a significant new movement against fossil gas projects in the country.
"This is a clear signal to financial institutions in Europe and around the world that they must take rapid, transformative action to change their financial models, keep fossil fuels in the ground, and support a just transition to sustainable forms of energy for all," said Clemence Dubois, France Campaigner, 350.org.
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
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'A Travesty': Clarence Thomas Refuses to Recuse in Case That Could Benefit Billionaire Benefactor
"Crow's interest in these cases is unambiguous, as is the depth of Thomas' relationship with his patron," said the head of the Revolving Door Project.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday recused himself from a decision—but the rare move from the embattled right-winger came as he weighed in on another case involving his billionaire benefactor, which outraged one watchdog group.
The high court declined to hear Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) v. City of New York, New York, a landlord-backed constitutional challenge to the massive city's longtime rent stabilization policies for about a million apartments.
"It is a travesty that Clarence Thomas failed to recuse himself in yet another case from which his right-wing donors could directly benefit," said Revolving Door Project executive director Jeff Hauser in a statement. "Justice Thomas' billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow has a vested interest in weakening rent control laws across the country to buttress his real estate empire's profits."
The Supreme Court in recent months has faced calls for new ethics rules, a U.S. Department of Justice probe, and Thomas' resignation in response to revelations about his relationship with Crow and other rich GOP donors. In addition to treating Thomas to luxury vacations, Crow bought his mother's house and contributed to the private school tuition for a great-nephew he raised.
"Justice Thomas' billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow has a vested interest in weakening rent control laws across the country to buttress his real estate empire's profits."
"Crow's industry lobbyist of choice, the National Multifamily Housing Council, filed an amicus brief urging the 2nd Circuit to take up the challenge to New York City's rent control law in 2021," Hauser noted. "While the NMHC did not file a brief for the case before the Supreme Court, there should be little doubt that Thomas and his clerks are aware of NMHC's, and therefore Crow's, interest in the case."
As The New York Timesreported Monday, "Other petitions asking the Supreme Court to rule on aspects of the regulations are pending, and the justices may yet agree to consider one or more of those cases."
Given that, "the threat from the Thomas-Crow relationship remains imminent," Hauser stressed. "We call on Thomas to immediately recuse himself from two additional challenges to New York City's rent control law relisted for the October 6th conference by the court: 74 Pinehurst LLC v. New York (22-1130) and 335-7 LLC v. City of New York. Crow's interest in these cases is unambiguous, as is the depth of Thomas' relationship with his patron Crow."
The recusal demand comes after the Revolving Door Project in July released a report on Crow's ties to the National Multifamily Housing Council, including that—as the group highlighted Monday—NMHC Chair Ken Valach is CEO of three subsidiaries of his company Crow Holdings.
Thomas and other members of the court have also recently faced calls to recuse themselves from other cases due to similar conflicts. For example, he and fellow right-wing Justice Samuel Alito are under pressure to not be involved in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America, which they are set to hear arguments for on Tuesday.
As Common Dreamsreported earlier Monday, in response to concerns about that case, Stand Up America's Brett Edkins said that "Justices Thomas and Alito are shamelessly thumbing their noses at judicial ethics, living the high life on GOP billionaires' dime. While they bask in luxury, the court's conservative supermajority is ruthlessly stacking the deck in favor of the wealthy and powerful, while chipping away at the freedoms of everyday Americans."
Although Thomas' involvement in the court's decision to not hear the New York rent stabilization case was cause for concern, advocates in the city still cautiously welcomed the outcome—while recognizing the threats to the protections for renters loom.
"It's definitely positive news that CHIP was denied and we hope that the same will happen in the other two cases," Ed Josephson of the Legal Aid Society, co-counsel for tenant groups who joined all of the related suits, toldCity Limits.
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In what's expected to be the largest-ever U.S. healthcare worker strike, more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente employees in six states and Washington, D.C. are set to stop working for three days starting Wednesday to protest what they say are unfair working conditions and unsafe staffing levels at hundreds of hospitals and clinics across the country.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions—which represents 85,000 KP workers in eight unions—began its national bargaining process in April in anticipation of worker contracts expiring at the end of September. Union members are seeking across-the-board raises of between 5.75%-6.5%; KP is offering 3%. Additionally, workers want protections against subcontracting and outsourcing, better performance-sharing bonuses, an improved retiree medical plan, and unionization rights for employees of nonunion entities acquired by the KP.
In a 2022 survey of 33,000 KP employees, two-thirds of respondents said they've seen patient care delayed or denied due to short staffing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Kaiser executives are refusing to listen to us and are bargaining in bad faith over the solutions we need to end the Kaiser short-staffing crisis," said Jessica Cruz, a licensed vocational nurse at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center. "I see my patients' frustrations when I have to rush them and hurry on to my next patient."
"That's not the care I want to give," Cruz added. "We're burning ourselves out trying to do the jobs of two or three people, and our patients suffer when they can't get the care they need due to Kaiser's short-staffing."
Based in Oakland, California, KP—which operates 39 hospitals and more than 700 medical offices staffed by over 300,000 workers and serving nearly 13 million patients—is the nation's largest nonprofit healthcare provider.
According to a statement from the coalition:
Kaiser has reported $3 billion in profits in just the first six months of this year. Despite being a nonprofit organization—which means it pays no income taxes on its earnings and extremely limited property taxes—Kaiser has reported more than $24 billion in profit over the last five years. Kaiser's CEO was compensated more than $16 million in 2021, and 49 executives at Kaiser are compensated more than $1 million annually. Kaiser Permanente has investments of $113 billion in the U.S. and abroad, including in fossil fuels, casinos, for-profit prisons, alcohol companies, military weapons, and more.
Workers in California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. will take part in the strike.
KP communications manager Hilary Costa toldHealthcare Dive Monday that "the best place to reach an agreement is at the bargaining table. We will ask our employees to reject any call to walk away from their jobs."
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Calling on Norway to "live up to the responsibilities" it has as co-chair of an international panel on sustainable oceans, more than 30 climate and conservation organizations on Monday delivered a letter to nearly two dozen Norwegian embassies on all continents, intensifying global outcry over plans for deep-seabed mining in the Arctic.
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"European countries like France, Germany and Spain have taken a precautionary position, advocating a precautionary pause, a moratorium or a ban on deep-sea mining," wrote the groups. "Scientists, Indigenous groups, fisheries and seafood organizations, civil society organizations, and major businesses including Storebrand, BMW, and Google are all calling for a stop to deep-sea mining. The European Investment Bank has excluded deep-sea mining from its investments as it is deemed 'unacceptable in climate and environmental terms,' and the European Parliament has called for a moratorium multiple times."
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