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wells fargo
An Antidote to Despair: Climate and Labor Unite
Wells Fargo Workers United and Stop the Money Pipeline are teaming up to target one corporation that clearly doesn't care about everyday people: Wells Fargo.
Nov 01, 2025
Living in the United States right now, it's easy to feel rage and despair. Corporations and billionaires have amassed so much money and power that popular opinions held by everyday working people are no longer represented by our federal government, and corporations are freer than ever to do what they like.
The results are damning: rising costs of basic needs like healthcare, housing, insurance, and groceries, making them unaffordable. We are faced with increasingly dangerous extreme weather events, endangering our homes, businesses, and loved ones. We are exposed to more pollution and toxins in our air, water, and soil than ever before. On top of it all, our mandated tax dollars are being used to kill and starve children at home and abroad.
Now, we find ourselves asking: How can we possibly influence our government, these corporations, and the billionaire class to do the right thing? Our only choice is to work together: the climate and labor movement uniting to hit these corporations and billionaires where it hurts—their wallets.
Wells Fargo Workers United and Stop the Money Pipeline are teaming up to target one corporation that clearly doesn't care about everyday people: Wells Fargo. In February, despite its rank as the fifth largest funder of fossil fuels in the world in 2024, Wells Fargo publicly dropped its 2030 and 2050 climate goals. Wells Fargo has also been caught union busting, recently allegedly eavesdropping on bargaining. The bank has already faced over 30 Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges, and has been found violating workers’ rights on multiple occasions. Since its founding, Wells Fargo executives have proven that they will prioritize profit over people and the planet.
There’s a magical reality that happens when talking to people about the power they already have to impact a corporation and the world.
We won’t let them get away with it. If enough Wells Fargo workers join the union, they can withhold, or threaten to withhold, their labor, which could cost the company real revenue loss. Workers can then use this leverage to negotiate for higher wages, more staff, and an end to Wells Fargo’s funding of the climate crisis. This the first time that a union is forming at a US bank this large.
We’re seeing real momentum. Already, 28 Wells Fargo branches have voted to unionize and are actively engaging in bargaining. In August, over 30 people from communities facing the brunt of pollution from fossil fuel build-out in the Gulf South visited bank branches in San Francisco to inform workers about the union and Wells Fargo dropping its climate targets.
There’s a magical reality that happens when talking to people about the power they already have to impact a corporation and the world. We’ve seen workers light up when we share more about the support system of workers who feel the same way they do. They lift out of the drudgery of their daily routine, and sparkle with energy as we explore the possibility of change in their workplaces. In a time when so many of us are isolated, the opportunity to come together safely in person and affect real meaningful change can be so fulfilling, and even joyful. We need as many people as possible talking to Wells Fargo workers about the union to build the power we need to win.
This isn’t just about what we’re against, this is about what we fight for: a collective future where all of us can thrive, drink clean water, and breathe clean air; where workers unite to build power for better working conditions and climate policies. Any worker, anywhere, can take action. If you are a union member, or connected to any climate or labor organizing, talk to your leadership to see what you can do to build these bridges.
We won’t deny the challenges before us. It's true, stepping outside of your comfort zone is scary, but this is a space of growth and creativity. To create a better world, we have to do things that challenge ourselves and our status quo. As the saying goes, “Action is the cure for despair.” The only way to effectively protect our world and democracy is to stand together across climate and labor and fight back as one. It’s time that we embrace this moment together.Keep ReadingShow Less
We’re Going After Wells Fargo—Here’s Why
On August 15, we’re planning a nationwide day of actions at Wells Fargo’s headquarters, corporate offices, and branches across the country, to make it clear that the bank cannot bend the knee to Trump without massive backlash.
Aug 13, 2025
Since the Trump regime took power, corporations have been lining up to bend the knee—but no bank has done so as dramatically as Wells Fargo. So, on Friday August 15, we’re taking action to hold the bank accountable. Here’s why and how you can get involved.
Just weeks after the inauguration, Wells Fargo became the only major U.S. bank to completely abandon its 2030 and 2050 climate goals, despite warnings from experts that we are headed toward catastrophic climate harms. The timing was not a coincidence.
Investigative reporting from Rolling Stone caught members of the Texas attorney general’s office boasting about how they had “bullied” Wells Fargo into dropping some of its climate commitments. The officials threatened to pull lucrative business from the bank and even pursue litigation if Wells Fargo did not comply with their pro-fossil-fuel agenda. So comply, it did.
In the same week, the bank ended a policy requiring diversity in senior-level hiring, despite its record of systematic racial discrimination against job candidates. Wells Fargo has long come under fire for racist practices, from millions in fines for charging Black and Latine homebuyers higher mortgage rates to urging shareholders to vote against reporting on workplace discrimination and harassment.
Wells Fargo has done more to advance Trump’s agenda than any other bank on Wall Street. That’s why this summer, we’re holding the bank accountable.
Then, Wells Fargo unveiled to the Trump administration its scheme to privatize the U.S. Postal Service. Their plan includes raising prices up to 140%, mass layoffs of unionized workers while slashing benefits for those remaining, and eliminating the unprofitable “Universal Service Obligation” to deliver mail to all U.S. addresses six days a week. A privatized post office would charge higher prices for worse service, while decimating good union jobs.
Not only is Wells Fargo caving to right-wing pressure, it is actively funding the fascist agenda, from mass deportations to genocide in Gaza. It is currently a lead banker on a $500 million revolving credit commitment to Palantir—a tech company that provides AI targeting technology to the Israeli military as it murders tens of thousands of Palestinians, and signed a $30 million contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to develop “ImmigrationOS,” a new immigrant surveillance software. Wells Fargo was also one of the financiers of a $500 million loan to Elbit Systems, a company that makes weapons and surveillance systems for the Israeli military and U.S. Customs and Border Protection alike.
This is not the first time Wells Fargo has funded colonialism and genocide—the bank was a major funder of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), despite fierce resistance from members of the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River tribal nations. Indigenous leaders have been fighting to get the pipeline—which is operating without a key permit—shut down ever since.
All the while, Wells Fargo is attempting to undermine unionization efforts, facing over 30 allegations of union busting, including the circulation of anti-union talking points from management, and attempts by senior executives to intimidate organizers. Twenty-eight bank branches have unionized so far, and workers continue to fight staff cuts, low pay, and poor benefits.
Under the helm of CEO Charles Scharf, who rakes in a $30 million salary, Wells Fargo has done more to advance Trump’s agenda than any other bank on Wall Street. That’s why this summer, we’re holding the bank accountable.
We’re demanding that Wells Fargo reinstate its climate targets, stop union busting, back off our public post office, commit to racial equity, and stop financing companies that are engaging in the war on immigrants and genocide in Gaza.
In July, our campaign kicked off with protests at the bank’s New York City and San Francisco offices, including seven activists who were arrested for engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience. The actions were organized by Standing Rock and Cheyenne River members alongside the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Arab Resource Organizing Center, and more than 100 climate activists.
On August 15, we’re planning a nationwide day of actions at Wells Fargo’s headquarters, corporate offices, and branches across the country, to make it clear that the bank cannot bend the knee to Trump without massive backlash.
In San Francisco, scientists and leaders from the Gulf South will shut down their headquarters for the fourth time in as many weeks. In Charlotte, where Wells Fargo has a major corporate office, faith leaders, alarmed by suffering to the planet and disregard for human dignity, will be delivering the message to several branches followed by a prayer vigil. In New York, communities will come together across movement spaces for a rally at Wells Fargo’s sumptuous corporate office building.
But it isn’t just in the cities where Wells Fargo has its corporate offices. All across the country, people will deliver a petition with tens of thousands of signatures to Wells Fargo. You can join an action near you, or sign up to organize an action of your own with support from our organizing team on August 15.
Wells Fargo has responded to pressure before: Following major public outcry, the bank announced in 2019 (during the last Trump term) that it would stop financing private prison companies. With the climate, labor, Indigenous rights, and Free Palestine movements joining forces, we can build the collective power needed to stop the fascist agenda.
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Morgan Stanley Latest Wall Street Giant to Ditch Net-Zero Coalition
Earlier this week, Bank of America and Citigroup also said they were leaving the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.
Jan 02, 2025
On Thursday, the Wall Street titan Morgan Stanley became the latest financial institution to leave the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a United Nations-convened group of banks committed to "aligning their lending, investment, and capital markets activities with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050."
The defections keep piling up. Earlier this week, Bank of America and Citigroup said they were leaving the alliance, and earlier in December Goldman Sachs Group and Wells Fargo announced they were doing the same.
“We will continue to report on our progress as we work towards our 2030 interim financed-emissions targets,” Morgan Stanley told Bloomberg in an email.
While Morgan Stanley didn't offer an explanation for the exit, according to Reuters, financial firms have repeatedly found themselves in the crosshairs of some members of the GOP who argue that corporate efforts to limit fossil fuels run afoul of antitrust law.
Last summer, the Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee published a report accusing financial institutions colluding to impose "radical environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals on American companies." Their probe was largely focused on another climate group, Climate Action 100+, which is made up of financial institutions who strive to engage companies they invest in on climate issues. That coalition has also experienced a number of defections.
In December, 11 GOP-led states sued three asset managers in federal court, arguing that the firms had "artificially constrained the supply of coal, significantly diminished competition in the markets for coal, increased energy prices for American consumers, and produced cartel-level profits" for the firms in violation of antitrust law.
Despite the stated goals of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, Morgan Stanley and other firms who are a part of the alliance have remained a major financial life lines for fossil fuel companies.
According to a report published by a group of NGOs in 2023, 56 of the largest banks in the Net-Zero Banking Alliance—including Morgan Stanley—have provided nearly $270 billion in the form of loans and underwriting to more than 100 "major fossil fuel expanders," from Saudi Aramco to ExxonMobil to Shell.
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Wall Street Banks Accused of Trying to Sabotage Key Consumer Protection Rule
"The CFPB must stop this ploy by the biggest banks to keep us trapped under their thumbs."
Nov 15, 2024
Consumer advocates applauded last month as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule aimed at making it easier for people to switch financial institutions if they're unhappy with a bank's service, without the bank retaining their personal data—but on Thursday, more than a dozen groups warned the CFPB that major Wall Street firms are trying to stop Americans from benefiting from the rule.
Several advocacy groups, led by the Demand Progress Education Fund, wrote to CFPB director Rohit Chopra warning that major banks—including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citi, TD Bank, and Wells Fargo—sit on the board of the Financial Data Exchange (FDX), which has applied to the bureau for standard-setting body (SSB) status, which would give it authority over what is commonly known as the "open banking rule."
Standard-setting authority for the banks would present a major conflict of interest, said the groups.
The banks are also on the board of the Bank Policy Institute, which promptly filed what the consumer advocates called a "frivolous lawsuit" to block the open banking rule when it was introduced last month, claiming it will keep banks from protecting customer data.
At a panel discussion this week, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan also said the open banking rule, by requiring financial firms to unlock a consumer's financial data and transfer it to another provider for free, would cause "chaos" and amplify concerns over fraud.
"The American people are fed up with Wall Street controlling every aspect of their lives and the open banking rule is an opportunity to give all of us some financial freedom."
The groups wrote on Thursday that big banks want to continue to "maintain their dominance by making it unduly difficult for consumers to switch institutions."
"The presence of these organizations on both the FDX and BPI boards undermines the credibility of FDX and presents various concerns relating to conflict of interest, interlocking directorate, and antitrust law," they wrote.
Upon introducing the finalized rule last month, Chopra said the action would "give people more power to get better rates and service on bank accounts, credit cards, and more" and help those who are "stuck in financial products with lousy rates and service."
The coalition of consumer advocacy groups—including Public Citizen, the American Economic Liberties Project, and Americans for Financial Reform—urged Chopra to reject FDX's application for standard-setting authority so long as the banks remain on its board.
“It would be a flagrant conflict of interest for the same banks who are suing to block the open banking rule because it threatens their market dominance to also be in charge of implementing it," said Demand Progress Education Fund corporate power director Emily Peterson-Cassin. "The American people are fed up with Wall Street controlling every aspect of their lives and the open banking rule is an opportunity to give all of us some financial freedom. The CFPB must stop this ploy by the biggest banks to keep us trapped under their thumbs."
The groups called the open banking rule "a historic step forward for the cause of giving consumers true freedom intheir financial lives."
"For this reason, it is imperative that SSB status not be granted to an organization whose board members are, either directly or through a trade association they are participating in, suing the CFPB to stop the rules from taking effect, particularly when such members may be ethically conflicted from such dual participation," said the groups. "By rejecting SSB status for FDX or any other organization with similar conflicts of interest pertaining to Section 1033, the CFPB will help prevent big banks from sabotaging open banking rules."
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A Death in a Cubicle Undermines the Case for In-Person Work
How can an employee die at her desk and remain undiscovered for so long in a place supposedly designed to enhance collaboration and human connection?
Sep 03, 2024
The recent, tragic story of Denise Prudhomme, a 60-year-old Wells Fargo employee who was found dead at her cubicle four days after she came into her office, challenges the prevailing narrative about the supposed social and collaborative benefits of in-person work. Prudhomme's death went unnoticed in an environment that is often portrayed as fostering better communication and team cohesion. This disturbing reality casts serious doubt on the claims made by many corporate leaders that bringing workers back to the office is essential for their well-being and collaboration. The story reveals a stark contrast between the idealized vision of in-office work and its practical shortcomings.
Corporate leaders frequently argue that remote work results in isolation and a loss of team spirit, emphasizing that the physical presence of employees is necessary to maintain a connected and innovative workplace. Yet, Prudhomme's case suggests otherwise. Despite being in the office, her presence—or rather, her tragic absence—went unnoticed for days. This raises a profound question: How can an employee die at her desk and remain undiscovered for so long in a place supposedly designed to enhance collaboration and human connection? Several employees noticed a foul odor but attributed it to faulty plumbing rather than the grim reality. This oversight reveals a significant disconnect between what companies claim about in-person work and what actually happens on the ground.
The death of Denise Prudhomme is a stark reminder that the supposed benefits of in-person work are often overstated or misunderstood.
Recent research adds another layer to this discussion. The Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes (SWAA), led by Nick Bloom and his colleagues, shows that employees spend only about 80 minutes on in-person activities during a typical office day. The rest of their time is spent on tasks like video conferencing, emailing, and using communication tools—tasks that are equally manageable from home. These findings highlight the inefficiencies of in-office work, where the supposed benefits of collaboration are minimal, and the majority of the workday could be performed just as effectively outside the office.
The push for in-office work is often framed as an attempt to combat isolation and enhance teamwork, but the truth seems to lie elsewhere. Instead of being about employee welfare, it may be more about outdated managerial control and resistance to change, as found in recent research led by Professor Mark Ma from the University of Pittsburgh, alongside his graduate student Yuye Ding. This compulsion not only creates a toxic work environment but also perpetuates a lack of genuine engagement among employees. The death of Prudhomme, unnoticed by her colleagues, serves as a grim reminder of the consequences of such a culture.
The Wells Fargo incident also underscores the limitations of traditional office environments. Many workplaces are structured in ways that can be isolating. This reality challenges the narrative that in-office work fosters better mental health and social engagement. If the physical presence of employees was genuinely the solution to isolation, how could such a tragedy occur without anyone noticing for so long? It becomes evident that the drive to return employees to the office is not necessarily about their well-being or improved collaboration but often about control, visibility, and maintaining the status quo.
To genuinely improve workplace dynamics and employee satisfaction, companies should reconsider how they structure in-person workdays. By focusing on meaningful in-person engagements and allowing remote work for tasks that do not require physical presence, companies can reduce unnecessary commuting, increase productivity, and significantly improve employee well-being.
The death of Denise Prudhomme is a stark reminder that the supposed benefits of in-person work are often overstated or misunderstood. The reality of her unnoticed death in a supposedly collaborative office setting reveals the emptiness of corporate claims about the need for physical presence to foster better teamwork and social connections.
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Analysis Details How Wall Street Underwriting Quietly Funnels Billions Into Fossil Fuels
"Underwriting is a huge missing piece of net-zero transition plans, allowing big U.S. banks to continue to help fossil fuel companies raise billions of dollars with limited scrutiny," said one campaigner.
Jul 24, 2023
A report out Monday sheds light on how big U.S. banks' underwriting of bonds and equities for polluting corporations constitutes a "hidden pipeline" for fossil fuel financing.
It's no secret that financial institutions play a leading role in driving the climate emergency. Since 2016, the year the Paris agreement took effect, the world's 60 largest private banks have provided more than $5.5 trillion in financing to the fossil fuel industry, flouting their pledges to put themselves and their clients on a path to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as the window to avert the worst consequences of the intensifying climate crisis rapidly closes.
But banks' underwriting activities receive far less attention than their direct lending practices, even though both are instrumental in enabling fossil fuel expansion and must be reformed to rein in the industry most responsible for imperiling the planet's livability.
That's the key takeaway from a new analysis of Wall Street's participation in capital markets published by the Sierra Club's Fossil-Free Finance campaign.
"By only focusing on emissions reduction targets for their lending activities, banks are conveniently excluding half of their fossil fuel financing from their climate commitments."
"Banks play a vital role in capital markets," the report explains. "Acting as underwriters, they are the gatekeepers of fossil fuel companies: they advise companies issuing bonds and equities, hold the vital information on the issuer, and help market the instruments to investors disclosing only the necessary risk."
Since 2016, the six largest U.S. banks—JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs—have provided more than $433 billion in lending and underwriting to 30 of the companies doing the most to increase fossil fuel extraction and combustion worldwide, the report notes. More than three-fifths (61%) of that financing comes from underwriting, with those half-dozen banking giants issuing $266 billion in new bonds and equities for the world's top 30 fossil fuel expansion firms.
Climate justice advocates have long criticized the concept of "net-zero" because, they argue, allowing planet-heating pollution to be "canceled out" via dubious carbon offset programs or risky carbon removal technologies is an accounting trick that doesn't guarantee the significant emissions cuts needed to avoid the climate emergency's most destructive impacts.
But even if one accepts the premise of net-zero, big U.S. banks' policies on the topic are misleading.
"Despite the importance of capital markets activities in helping fossil fuel companies secure new funding, banks focus primarily on lending, while downplaying the importance of underwriting, when setting their emissions reduction targets," the report says. "Banks are performing sleight of hand, distracting investors and regulators with net-zero transition plans that are half-finished, while continuing to funnel money to fossil fuel companies via capital markets with limited scrutiny."
In a statement, Adele Shraiman, senior campaign strategist with the Sierra Club's Fossil-Free Finance campaign, said that "without banks, fossil fuel companies cannot raise money through capital markets."
"By downplaying their role in capital markets and refusing to include facilitated emissions in their climate targets, big U.S. banks are intentionally sidestepping a major source of real-world emissions and making it impossible to meet their own net-zero commitments," said Shraiman.
According to the report: "Only three of the six major Wall Street banks include bond and equity underwriting in their sectoral emissions reduction targets—JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo. The remaining three banks have so far chosen to only apply emissions reduction targets to lending activities."
However, "even among those who have set emissions reduction targets that include underwriting, insufficient disclosures and lack of standardization make it difficult to understand how robust banks' facilitated emissions accounting methodologies are, and what progress they are making toward achieving their emissions reduction targets," the report adds.
In a blog post, Shraiman wrote that "banks don't want us to know all of the ways they help fossil fuel companies raise funds to continue building the pipelines, oil rigs, fracking wells, and coal mines that are destroying the climate and hurting communities."
"But investors, regulators, and customers around the world see through their duplicity," she continued. "We are demanding complete, robust, and transparent net-zero plans that cover all types of financing activities and will lead to real-world emissions reductions in line with our global climate goals."
"Banks don't want us to know all of the ways they help fossil fuel companies raise funds to continue building the pipelines, oil rigs, fracking wells, and coal mines that are destroying the climate."
Monday's report comes at a key moment in the fight to stop Wall Street from continuing to fund climate chaos.
As the Sierra Club observed, "Banks currently point to a lack of industry standards on underwriting to justify why they do not disclose or set targets for facilitated emissions." However, the industry-led Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials is expected to release its updated methodology on accounting for and reducing facilitated emissions in the near future.
"Underwriting is a huge missing piece of net-zero transition plans, allowing big U.S. banks to continue to help fossil fuel companies raise billions of dollars with limited scrutiny," Shraiman said. "By only focusing on emissions reduction targets for their lending activities, banks are conveniently excluding half of their fossil fuel financing from their climate commitments."
"It's time," she added, "for the major Wall Street banks to adopt a robust and consistent methodology for accounting facilitated emissions, and take full responsibility for the climate impacts of their underwriting decisions."
The International Energy Agency has stated unequivocally that there is "no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply in our net-zero pathway."
After the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest assessment in March, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C is possible, "but it will take a quantum leap in climate action," including a ban on approving and financing new coal, oil, and gas projects as well as a phaseout of existing fossil fuel production.
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Banks Accused of Placing 'Profit Over People and Our Planet' as Investor Climate Resolutions Fail
"Investors who voted against these resolutions should expect to have a hard time sleeping at night with the knowledge that their misplaced greed will lead to climate destruction and chaos," said one campaigner
Apr 25, 2023
Activists on Tuesday lamented their failure of various climate and Indigenous rights resolutions at the annual shareholder meetings of some of the nation's biggest banks, with one campaigner accusing the financial institutions of prioritizing "profit over people and our planet."
Just 10% of Citigroup shareholders and 7% of those owning Bank of America stock voted for resolutions urging banks to adopt a phaseout of financing for new fossil fuel projects. An unknown percentage of Wells Fargo shareholders voted for the resolution. Similar resolutions proposed last year garnered 13% of the vote at Citi and 11% at Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
Those three banks combined have financed nearly $1 trillion in fossil fuel projects since the Paris climate agreement was implemented in 2016, according to a report published earlier this month by a coalition of green groups.
The resolutions were filed by Trillium Asset Management at Bank of America, Harrington Investments at Citigroup, and Sierra Club Foundation at Wells Fargo.
Nearly 30% of Bank of America shareholders also backed forcing the institution to release a 2030 climate transition plan, while 31% Citi investors endorsed a resolution requiring the company to publish a report on the effects of its policies and actions on Indigenous peoples' human rights.
As Sierra Club noted:
Investor filers made several amendments to the fossil fuel financing proposals at the banks this year, including asking banks to adopt a policy to phase out financing for projects and companies engaging in new fossil fuel exploration and development, which is incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5°C, and encouraging banks to provide financing for energy sector clients to credibly transition to cleaner technologies, which could safeguard against greenwashing and accelerate the clean energy transition.
Tuesday's shareholder votes followed protests the previous day outside the headquarters of Bank of America in Charlotte, Citigroup in New York, and Wells Fargo in San Francisco. Dozens of activists slept overnight outside Citi's headquarters.
"While... Citi shareholders continue to support evaluating its policies and impacts on Indigenous peoples, it's saddening and maddening to see the numbers drop a few points as our homelands are destroyed across the globe," said Tara Houska, a member of the Couchiching First Nation and founder of the Giniw Collective.
"These are not uninformed people, they are folks who hold an incredible amount of influence on social discourse and outcomes that impact all life," she added. "Hiding behind jargon and polite rooms are actions they choose as the world's finite freshwater is irreparably harmed."
Stephone M. Coward II, who runs the economic justice and Paid in Full campaigns at the Hip Hop Caucus, argued that "once again, these financial institutions prioritize profit over people and our planet."
" Pollution from fossil fuels worsens the effects of climate change, and together they create a destructive loop that disproportionately impacts the well-being of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people," Coward added. "We must continue to use all the financial levers of power to shift financial capital away from industries causing harm and toward communities that hold the solutions."
Jessye Waxman, the senior campaign representative for Sierra Club's Fossil-Free Finance campaign, said in a statement that "investors have once again failed to align their voting with their stated positions on climate-related financial risk."
"Stewardship is central to many investors' own net-zero commitments, so it's alarming that investors—including the biggest institutional investors like BlackRock and Vanguard—continue to choose a hands-off approach to climate risk mitigation," Waxman added.
Vanguard recently surpassed BlackRock as the world's leading institutional investor in fossil fuels, with the former holding $269 billion in coal, oil, and gas investments and the latter $263 billion.
"Big investors are ignoring science and the needs of frontline communities, protecting the status quo over the changes needed to protect people and planet from climate disaster," Alec Connon, coordinator of the Stop the Money Pipeline, said in a statement. "A transition is coming one way or another: Banks and their investors can help make it orderly and just, or they can pretend they don't see what's coming as they drive the planet off a cliff."
"Investors who voted against these resolutions should expect to have a hard time sleeping at night with the knowledge that their misplaced greed will lead to climate destruction and chaos," Connon added.
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'This Must Stop,' Say Climate Activists Targeting US Banks' Fossil Fuel Financing
"Our aim is to disrupt the banks as much as we can today to give them a glimpse of the destruction people are experiencing because of climate change," said one organizer.
Apr 24, 2023
Demanding an end to fossil fuel financing amid a worsening planetary emergency, climate and environmental justice campaigners on Monday staged coordinated protests in three cities against a trio of the biggest U.S. banks a day ahead of their annual shareholder meetings.
Each of the demonstrations—which targeted the Charlotte, New York, and San Francisco headquarters of Bank of America, Citibank, and Wells Fargo, respectively—featured a delegation from Louisiana and Texas communities adversely affected by liquefied natural gas projects financed by the three banks.
In Charlotte, protesters held a "die-in" in memory of people who have perished in famines, fires, and floods linked to climate change. New York activists held an overnight sit-in, while in San Francisco demonstrators blocked the building's entrance and staged a street theater performance.
"Our aim is to disrupt the banks as much as we can today to give them a glimpse of the destruction people are experiencing because of climate change," explained Alice Hu of New York Communities for Change, which organized the Citibank sit-in. "Banks like Citi like to say verbally that they are funding the energy transition but in reality it's business as usual: pumping money into harmful emissions that are linked to extreme weather events."
The three banks' annual shareholder meetings will be held virtually on Tuesday. Shareholder activists plan to introduce several resolutions demanding the banks avoid any future fossil fuel financing.
A report published earlier this month by a coalition of green groups revealed that JPMorgan Chase ($434.2 billion), Citibank ($332.9 billion), Wells Fargo ($318.2 billion), and Bank of America ($281.2 billion) have been the world's biggest fossil fuel financiers since the Paris climate agreement took effect in 2016. Those four banks alone accounted for 28% of all identified fossil fuel financing in 2022, according to the report.
"As people of faith and spirit, we call on banks to stop funding projects that are financially unfeasible and morally wrong," said Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise of GreenFaith, which organized the Charlotte protest.
"Oil pipeline projects displace people, destroy water, Earth, and air, and contribute to planet-wide suffering," she continued. "It's been two years since banks like Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America made claims of wanting to help address the climate crisis. While some banks are making changes with one hand, with the other they continue funding new and expanding current fossil fuel projects, and are still backing oil, gas, and coal developers."
"Quite simply, the world is rapidly running out of time," Brooks Paradise added. "We need our banks to act swiftly and with integrity to stop all funding that fuels climate disasters."
Roishetta Ozane, founder of the environmental justice group Vessel Project of Louisiana, said at the New York protest: "In southwest Louisiana, we feel like we are the dumping ground for harmful methane gas and chemical projects. We have been made into a sacrifice."
"I have six kids and I worry constantly about their futures knowing what is being pumped into the air and knowing how climate change is already affecting our community through flooding," Ozane added. "Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo are funding this crisis and this must stop."
Monday's demonstrations follow last month's protest by Third Act, a group of U.S. elders demanding that banks "stop funding climate chaos."
Across the Atlantic on Monday, The Big One, a major climate protest that featured an Earth Day die-in outside the U.K. Parliament, wrapped up with a vow by lead organizer Extinction Rebellion to return to mass civil disobedience due to the government's failure to commit to ending the fossil fuel era.
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World's 60 Largest Banks Have Dumped $5.5 Trillion Into Fossil Fuels Since Paris Accord
"Fossil fuel companies are the ones dousing the planet in oil, gas, and coal, but big banks hold the matches," said one advocate. "Without financing, fossil fuels won't burn."
Apr 13, 2023
Since 2016, the year the Paris agreement took effect, the world's 60 largest private banks have provided $5.5 trillion in financing to the fossil fuel industry, contravening their pledges to put themselves and their clients on a path to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as the window to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis rapidly closes.
That's according to the latest iteration of Banking on Climate Chaos, an annual report that tracks how the financial industry's lending and underwriting practices are enabling new coal, oil, and gas projects to proceed despite the international scientific consensus that fossil fuel expansion is incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.
Authored by Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club, and Urgewald and endorsed by 624 organizations from 75 countries, the report published Wednesday juxtaposes banks' public vows to stop funding planet-heating pollution with their continued support for the fossil fuel industry, which is most responsible for the heat-trapping emissions that are intensifying extreme weather across the globe, with deadly consequences.
In 2022 alone, the world's biggest private-sector banks still financed coal, oil, and gas to the tune of $673 billion, the report notes, even as the fossil fuel industry raked in a record-high $4 trillion in profits amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which sent energy prices soaring. Notably, the banks poured $150 billion into the 100 corporations doing the most to ramp up fossil fuel production worldwide, including TC Energy, TotalEnergies, Venture Global, ConocoPhillips, and Saudi Aramco.
Of the 60 banks profiled in the analysis, 49 have committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The value of such promises is questionable, however, because those 49 banks provided 81% of the financing to the top 100 fossil fuel expanders in 2022. Key areas of growth include oil and gas extraction in the rapidly warming Arctic and the beleaguered Amazon rainforest; offshore drilling; fracking; liquefied "natural" gas export infrastructure in the U.S. Gulf South; and coal mining and power plants, particularly in China.
"Banks' 'net-zero' commitments aren't worth the paper they're printed on—they're simply cheap PR cover for pouring fuel on the climate crisis."
The U.S. financial giants JPMorgan Chase ($434.2 billion), Citi ($332.9 billion), Wells Fargo ($318.2 billion), and Bank of America ($281.2 billion) have been the worst offenders since the Paris agreement entered into force, together providing a quarter of all fossil fuel financing identified over the past seven years, the report notes.
Those four banks accounted for a combined 28% of fossil fuel financing identified in 2022 and were still among the year's top five worst actors. However, for the first time, a bank other than Chase topped the annual list. Royal Bank of Canada funneled $42.1 billion into tar sands oil pipeline giant Enbridge and other clients in 2022. Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Citi weren't far behind, respectively providing $39.2 billion, $38.8 billion, $36.9 billion, and $33.9 billion to the fossil fuel industry last year.
"Our window of opportunity for keeping global warming below 1.5ºC is closing fast," report co-author April Merleaux, research and policy manager at Rainforest Action Network, said in a statement. "We need a people-centered energy transition now. Profits now are a false economy because we simply cannot afford to continue burning fossil fuels—the costs down the road will be devastating."
"Fossil fuel companies are the ones dousing the planet in oil, gas, and coal, but big banks hold the matches," said Merleaux. "Without financing, fossil fuels won't burn."
Report co-author Adele Shraiman, senior representative for the Sierra Club's Fossil-Free Finance Campaign, lamented that "in a critical year for climate action, fossil fuel giants doubled down on reckless expansion projects and walked back their climate commitments."
"Meanwhile," she added, "major U.S. banks stalled on their net-zero plans and failed to adopt stronger and more robust financing restrictions for companies pushing unsustainable fossil fuel expansion."
As the report explains:
Bank policies contain loopholes that still leave them exposed to climate risk. For example, underwriting bonds and equities accounted for 36% of all fossil fuel financing, though major banks exclude these activities from their fossil fuel policies. Bank policies also include loopholes based on sector, region, or project.
A real-world example of banks' weak policies is ConocoPhillips, which is expanding through the recently-approved Willow oil drilling project in the Arctic, among other projects. In 2022, ConocoPhillips received financing for general corporate purposes from a syndicate including 12 banks profiled in this—Bank of America, Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Mizuho, MUFG, RBC, SMBC Group, TD, and Wells Fargo. While 39 of the top 60 banks have some type of Arctic exclusion policy applicable to projects, this exclusion did not preclude financing for ConocoPhillips' Willow project, since the company sought financing for general corporate purposes rather than for a specific project. Financing designated for general corporate purposes clearly enables ConocoPhillips to pursue this and other destructive projects.
The International Energy Agency has stated unequivocally that there is "no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply in our net-zero pathway."
After the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest assessment last month, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C is possible, "but it will take a quantum leap in climate action," including a prohibition on approving and financing new coal, oil, and gas projects as well as a phaseout of existing fossil fuel production.
"It is past time for banks to stop funding fossils," report co-author David Tong, global industry campaign manager at Oil Change International, said Wednesday. "Peer-reviewed research confirms that we cannot burn all the oil and gas in fields and mines operating now if we are to limit warming to 1.5ºC or even 2ºC—and yet banks keep fueling the climate crisis by pouring billions into the fossil fuel industry."
"The big oil and gas companies that have done the most to fuel the climate crisis cannot be trusted to phase out their own extractive, polluting business model," Tong added. "The fundamental arithmetic of 1.5ºC requires oil and gas production to decline by at least 3-4% per year, starting now. It's time for banks to take real action and stop funding climate destruction."
"Banks will not act in the public interest unless we force them to."
Earlier this week, more than 1,300 scientists and researchers published a letter urging JPMorgan shareholders to support a resolution that asks the bank's board of directors to "adopt a policy for a time-bound phaseout" of financing new coal, oil, and gas projects.
Shraiman said Wednesday that "as big banks face shareholder votes in the coming weeks, we will keep up pressure on banks and investors to adopt credible policies to achieve their climate commitments and take real steps to accelerate the clean energy transition."
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called on Congress to pass the Fossil Free Finance Act, a piece of bicameral legislation he recently reintroduced alongside fellow progressive lawmakers.
"Corporate greed is killing us," said U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a co-sponsor of the bill. "This report makes it clear that banks' 'net-zero' commitments aren't worth the paper they're printed on—they're simply cheap PR cover for pouring fuel on the climate crisis."
"Banks will not act in the public interest unless we force them to," Tlaib stressed. "While grassroots movements around the world continue to build pressure, it's long past time that the Federal Reserve, White House, and Congress take more aggressive action that meets this critical moment for the planet."
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Climate Coalition Targets Big Banks and Insurance Giants With New Shareholder Campaign
"The planet is running out of time and the banks are running out of excuses," said climate leader Bill McKibben.
Mar 01, 2023
A coalition of more than 240 advocacy groups on Wednesday launched a "Shareholder Showdown" campaign in support of shareholder resolutions urging climate action and respect for Indigenous rights at major U.S. and Canadian banks and insurance companies.
According to campaign coordinator Stop the Money Pipeline, the resolutions—which were filed by investors including the New York City and state pension funds, Sierra Club Foundation, and others—would require banks and insurance companies to "phase out their financing of companies engaged in fossil fuel expansion, report on projects that could violate Indigenous rights, use absolute emissions rather than emissions intensity targets, disclose 2030 transition plans, and hold directors accountable at banks that are not aligned with 1.5°C pathways."
The resolutions were timed to precede the companies' annual general meetings.
"This campaign is called Shareholder Showdown because we're in for a real fight—we're up against some globally powerful institutions," Arielle Swernoff, Stop the Money Pipeline's U.S. banks campaign manager, explained in an opinion piece published Wednesday by Common Dreams. "But organized people can achieve anything, and together we will stop the flow of money to fossil fuels and climate destruction."
Bill McKibben, co-founder of the climate group 350.org, said in a statement that "the planet is running out of time and the banks are running out of excuses—everyone from the pope to the secretary-general of the [United Nations] have called on them finally to act with clarity and conviction to help with the planet's greatest crisis, and shareholders should demand no less."
Among the resolutions filed are:
- An Indigenous rights reporting requirement filed by Sisters of St. Joseph for Peace at Citigroup;
- An absolute emissions target disclosure mandate filed by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and three city pension systems at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Royal Bank of Canada; and
- Measures filed by As You Sow requiring JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley to publicly disclose their 2030 plans for transitioning lending and investment portfolios away from fossil fuels.
" Climate change is an existential crisis that can overwhelm a person in scale and size, impossible to address," said Tara Houska of the Giniw Collective, an Indigenous women and two-spirit-led frontline resistance group fighting fossil fuel projects like Line 3 in Minnesota.
"Big bank shareholders possess an enormous amount of influence on the world's emissions," Houska added. "A roomful of people can impact the disastrous course we are currently on. No more lip service or empty greenwashing—we need action, now."
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