We, the undersigned people from across all fifty states, are writing to you to express our anger, frustration, and dismay at many of the business practices of Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo is the only bank to have abandoned its 2030 and 2050 climate commitments, dropping both its sector-specific 2030 financed and facilitated emissions reductions targets and its goal to achieve net zero emissions in its lending and underwriting by 2050.

This sets Wells Fargo apart from its competitors. Every other major US bank, including Citi, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley, have commitments to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and sector-specific 2030 emissions-reductions targets, including for the oil and gas sector. It is also a decision that sets Wells Fargo apart from the values, policies, and goals of hundreds of millions of Americans, who are alarmed about the climate crisis and want their bank to act upon it.

As has been well-documented by thousands of climate scientists, if we do not rein in runaway global warming hundreds of millions of people will face the brunt of extreme-weather events, the global food system will come under unbearable pressure as droughts, heat and floods impact food supply, and countless species will be pushed toward extinction. It is truly unconscionable that Wells Fargo has abandoned its climate targets in order to score brownie points with the current Administration.

If Wells Fargo was only financing companies wrecking the climate that would be bad enough. But that’s only the start of the ways in which Wells Fargo is siding with far-right extremists that are making life for everyday people harder.

Union Busting:

Wells Fargo faces over 30 allegations of union-busting as workers organize to fight staff cuts, retaliation, and the return of sales pressure. In 2025, the National Labor Relations Board accused Wells Fargo of preventing a fair election at a branch in California, while in a separate case, Wells Fargo has been accused of dismissing eleven employees for their union activity. Workers continue to expose and fight back against the barrage of anti-union talking points from management, including emails and captive meetings with senior executives who attempt to scare workers by portraying unions as harmful or unnecessary.

Privatizing the Public Good:

In February, Wells Fargo released a memo outlining political pathways to privatizing the post office. They advise the administration to sell off the most profitable parts of the service – primarily packages and parcels, while putting taxpayers on the hook for the rest. If implemented, Wells Fargo’s plan for privatizing the post office would result in higher prices, slower service, and the decimation of a unionized workforce that is nearly 30% Black and 40% women. Citing ​“recent DOGE efforts on federal cost control,” the Wells Fargo memo recommends that postal employees be given a ​“deferred buyout offer to leave or layoffs could ensue” and shifting the responsibility for workers’ health and retirement benefits to taxpayers. Due to the broad public affection for the USPS, the memo even recommends a backdoor strategy for privatizing the post office through the budget reconciliation process.

Racism and Sexism:

At Wells Fargo’s April 29th 2025 Annual General Meeting, the Wells Fargo Board advised shareholders to vote against a resolution introduced by the Office of the New York State Comptroller, Tom Di Napoli, calling for an annual report into the company’s attempts to prevent workplace sexual harassment and racial discrimination.

As the Office of the Comptroller pointed out however, persistent controversies have surrounded Wells Fargo’s workplace management practices.

In 2017 and 2020, Wells Fargo paid $36 million and $8 million in response to claims that the bank had systematically discriminated against black employees and job applicants. Numerous current and former employees have claimed that the company repeatedly conducted sham interviews with black candidates and female candidates for roles that had already been filled and then fired employees who complained about this practice.

A Bloomberg News study published in 2022, found that Wells Fargo rejected over half of Black applicants seeking to refinance their homes in 2020, while approving 72% of white applicants. In 2021 the bank approved just 58% of Black applications, compared with 79% of white applicants. Racial discrimination that pushed the City of New York to commit to not opening any new accounts with Wells Fargo

Yet, Wells Fargo’s board is not even willing to create a report for shareholders on the steps it has taken to ensure that this pattern of discrimination does not continue―and Wells Fargo has now even dropped its DEI goals.

War on immigrants and atrocities in Gaza:

Wells Fargo is a major funder of companies like Palantir that partner with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to target and deport immigrants, and Elbit Systems, which is a major provider of weapons and technologies to the Israeli military that have enabled mass atrocities in Palestine. This makes Wells Fargo complicit in the inhumane attacks on immigrants currently underway in the United States, as well as the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Our Demands:

It is with this background in mind that we, in the strongest possible terms, urge Wells Fargo to immediately:

- Reinstate and strengthen 2030 and 2050 climate goals: Wells Fargo must immediately reinstate its 2030 and 2050 financed and facilitated emissions reductions targets for the oil and gas sector, ensuring that the bank’s targets are aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

- Stop funding fossil fuels and scale up renewable energy financing: Wells Fargo must immediately stop financing all coal, oil, gas, and petrochemical expansion, phase out all financing of fossil fuels, and scale up financing for renewable energy in line with what is required to limit global warming to no more than a 1.5°C pathway.

- Respect the union: As workers continue to organize to improve conditions and reduce severe stress by fighting staff cuts and the return of sales pressure, Wells Fargo must end all union-busting activity and fully recognize the rights of its workers to organize and collectively bargain without retaliation or interference. A union is the only way that workers can effectively push back on Wells Fargo’s worst behaviors, and is one of our strongest levers of power.

- Refuse to participate in a plan to privatize the post office and pledge not to profit from the privatization of the post office if a plan goes forward

- Commit to racial equity. Wells Fargo must recognize the historic harms it has enabled in communities of color through years of systematic predatory lending and redlining, and implement programs that seek to redress this historic racial discrimination.

- Sever all ties to genocide, deportation and fascism: Wells Fargo must divest from all weapons manufacturers and tech-surveillance corporations that are enabling atrocities in Gaza, and the wave of mass deportations and attacks on immigrant communities currently happening across the United States.

We live in a time of escalating climate crisis, grotesque income inequality, and unnecessary mass suffering and death―we urge Wells Fargo to be a force for good in the world and to implement these demands immediately.

Sincerely,