Indigenous leaders, environmentalists and our allies are calling on big banks to #DefundPipelines.
The growing movement is calling on banks, investors, pension funds, and the public officials that manage our money to protect water, Indigenous rights and our climate by defunding DAPL and four proposed new tar sands pipelines. These banks have come under increasing pressure to stop financing human rights abuses and environmental destruction since the #NoDAPL struggle last year.
Without loans, bond sales, and other forms of financial support pipelines like DAPL, Keystone XL, Trans Mountain, Line 3, Energy East and other oil infrastructure won’t be built. More than 150,000 people signed online petition to target the 17 banks most responsible (those in bold finance all of these companies): Bank of America, Barclays, Citi, Crédit Agricole, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Mizuho, MUFG, RBC, SMBC, ScotiaBank, TD Bank, Wells Fargo, CIBC, BNP Paribas, and Bank of Montreal.
Earlier this year, community members and their elected officials moved $5.4 billion out of banks invested in the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Around the world, over 58,000 individuals and 700 colleges, churches, and other institutions are divesting another $5 trillion from fossil fuels in general.
Visit Mazaskatalks.org to learn more about all 64 banks that currently provide financing to at least one of the companies planning to build new tar sands pipelines.
And yet, research reports indicate the top global and US banks provided $785 billion for fossil fuel infrastructure such as coal and tar sands development from. Investments like these lock in infrastructure that will push the world past the Paris Climate Agreement objectives - even as dozens of mayors, governors and local officials take action to honor the promise Donald Trump broke early in June when he withdrew from the agreement.
Still, we see reason to hope in recent bank protests that forced banks to drop investments in DAPL or have commit, as US Bank recently did, to revisit their financing of future fossil fuel projects threatening Indigenous sovereignty, water and land.
Now with the support of hundreds of thousands of people representing billions of dollars, we're asking for your help to deliver the message to every bank, branch by branch, closing accounts and shutting down business as usual.
We need everyone, from those of us living paycheck to paycheck on up to millionaires and billionaires, to align your money with your values. Withhold your consent from a global finance system that puts profits ahead of Indigenous rights, climate truth, long-term economic analysis, and a safe planet for all. Sign up here to host or attend a local bank action this summer.
