Tell Congress: Support the Fossil Free Finance Act
Members of Congress
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We're calling on members of Congress to co-sponsor and pass the Fossil Free Finance Act so that we can stop banks financing climate chaos, and instead lend and invest responsibly.
We're in a critical climate emergency. Temperature records are being shattered, climate disasters are mounting and our communities are suffering. Still, Wall Street banks continue to fund fossil fuel expansion and deforestation, gambling on risky dirty energy that puts communities and our economic system at risk.
Since these banks won't stop on their own, we need the Federal Reserve (Fed) to step in. The Fed oversees our banking system and our economy. It has the power to stop money going to planet destroying projects. But right now, the Fed is choosing not to use any of its authority to rein in the big banks.
Thankfully, Senator Ed Markey and Representative Ayanna Pressley have a plan: The Fossil Free Finance Act. [1] The FFFA would require the Fed to mandate the biggest banks to stop financing the climate crisis and deforestation, and instead align their financing with science-based emissions targets.
Sign the petition today: Tell Congress to support the Fossil Free Finance Act!
Notes:
[1] For details on the Fossil Free Finance Act see this resource.Sponsored by
To:
Members of Congress
From:
[Your Name]
As concerned constituents, we the undersigned urge you to co-sponsor and vote to pass the Fossil Free Finance Act [H.R. 2443 / S. 1138]. The bill requires the Federal Reserve (Fed) to address the systemic risk that climate change poses to individual banks and to the financial stability of the United States.
The climate crisis poses a huge threat to communities in the US and around the world, including to the safety and stability of our economic and financial systems. The 2023 banking crisis, sparked by the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, reveals how dangerous it can be when regulators allow risks to fly under the radar. This should serve as a wake-up call. The Fed cannot afford to make the same mistakes with climate-related risks. But so far, the Fed has not taken any steps to require that banks act in ways that reduce their risks.
Congress has the power to push the Fed into action. The Fossil Free Finance Act would require the Fed to mandate banks with over $50 billion in assets to write and execute plans to:
- Stop financing new or expanded fossil fuel projects after 2023;
- Cut their financing of greenhouse gas pollution by 50% by 2030;
- Stop all financing of fossil fuels by 2050; and prioritize ending funding for projects that harm already-vulnerable communities.
This bill does not require the Fed to do anything it cannot already do under its current mandate to oversee bank safety and soundness and mitigate risks to financial stability. It simply directs the Fed to use its existing authority to protect individual banks and the financial system by reducing the amount of exposure banks have to risky high-emissions activities.
Big U.S. banks continue to gamble on dirty energy that puts communities and our financial system at risk. And when their bets fail, ordinary people will have to bail them out again via public funds and taxes. Shifting money from risky fossil fuel investments will protect our economy from a major threat to financial stability.
I urge you to please cosponsor and pass this bill to protect our economy, our planet and our future.