Tell Citi: Don’t Invest in Environmental Racism

JANE FRASER, CEO OF CITIGROUP

In October 2023, Indigenous and frontline leaders met with staff of Citi, the world's second largest funder of fossil fuel projects behind JP Morgan Chase, to demand the bank stop financing fossil fuel projects that exacerbate environmental racism and make climate change worse.

Citi could be asked to finance the ‘Sunshine Project’, a $12 billion petrochemical plant in St. James Parish, Louisiana. The 2400-acre complex would manufacture the building blocks of single-use plastics and other materials, increasing local pollution by 800 tons annually and greenhouse gas emissions by 13.6 million tons annually. The construction of the plant would also destroy the burial grounds of enslaved ancestors of some of the current population of St. James Parish.

During the meeting frontline leaders shared lived experiences, firsthand impacts, and calls for solutions directly with Citi staff. But Citi has still not responded to these requests.

Citi claims to screen projects that raise environmental justice concerns, but fossil fuel projects disproportionately affect Black and Indigenous communities, and lie at the heart of racial injustice in the United States by generating toxic air and water pollution, as well as greenhouse gas emissions that drive the global climate crisis.

Formosa Plastics has been named a ‘serial offender’ for its disregard of the environment and human lives around the world. In Vietnam, a steel plant owned by the company released toxic chemicals into the ocean, destroying marine life and leaving the local fishing community destitute. To this day, many victims have not been compensated and the environment has not been restored. Formosa Plastics’ Point Comfort, Texas plant was given a zero discharge of plastic mandate following a $50 million Clean Water Act settlement – the facility has been tested three times a week since June 2021 and it has failed every single test.

If Citi is serious about supporting the transition to a responsible and sustainable low-carbon economy, it will stop investing in all fossil fuel projects, including petrochemical plants like the Formosa Plastics’ ‘Sunshine Project’.

Add your name to demand Citi denounce, divest and defund Formosa Plastics’ toxic and racist ‘Sunshine Project’ in St. James, Louisiana.

To: JANE FRASER, CEO OF CITIGROUP
From: [Your Name]

Citi is the world’s second largest financier of fossil fuel projects, providing $333 billion to the fossil fuel industry since the Paris Agreement was signed in late 2015. Fossil fuels — coal, oil, and gas — lie at the heart of racial injustice in the United States by generating toxic air and water pollution, as well as greenhouse gas emissions that drive the global climate crisis. In past years, Citi has also been one of the largest US financiers of Formosa Plastics Corporation and its subsidiary companies.

The undersigned, many of whom bank with Citi, are writing to demand you end any and all business relationships you may have with one of the world’s largest petrochemical companies, Formosa Plastics Corporation, and its affiliates that are trying to build the Sunshine Project in St. James, Louisiana.

St. James Parish is a predominantly low-wealth and Black area of Louisiana that has been dubbed “Cancer Alley” for the impacts more than 200 industrial plants along an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi has on residents. The $12 billion “Sunshine Project” is a petrochemical complex that would increase local pollution by 800 tons annually, increase greenhouse gas emissions by 13.6 million tons annually, and destroy the burial grounds of enslaved ancestors of some of the current population of St. James Parish.

Formosa Plastics has been named a ‘serial offender’ for its disregard of the environment and human lives around the world. In Vietnam, a steel plant owned by the company released toxic chemicals into the ocean, destroying marine life and leaving the local fishing community destitute. To this day, many victims have not been compensated and the environment has not been restored. Formosa Plastics’ Point Comfort, Texas plant was given a zero discharge of plastic mandate following a $50 million Clean Water Act settlement – the facility has been tested three times a week since June 2021 and it has failed every single test.

If Citi is serious about its commitment to environmental justice and reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Citi cannot invest in any new reckless fossil fuel projects like the Formosa Plastics’ ‘Sunshine Project’.

Specifically, we ask that you:
*Publicly denounce environmental racism and the Sunshine Project.
*Publicly commit to not directly or indirectly finance the Sunshine project or related projects.
*Cease all underwriting and asset management activities for Formosa Plastics equities and debt.
*Sell and refrain from buying equities and debt issued by Formosa Plastics Corporation (TPE 1301) and Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (TPE 6505), Formosa Plastics Group, and other related Formosa affiliates.
*Invest in community-led, environmentally responsible alternatives in St. James Parish, Louisiana.

Thank you for your consideration.