For immediate release: Sept 25, 2019, 1:00pm CDT
CONTACT: Blair Fitzgibbon, (202)503-6161, Blair@SoundspeedPR.com
Minneapolis Climate Activists and Students Stage Die-In at New JPMorgan Chase Branch, Demanding World’s Worst Banker of Climate Change Stop Giving Money to Oil and Gas
Contact Ayse Gursoz, ayse@ran.org for photos and video.
Minneapolis –– Activists and students from the University of Minnesota staged a rally and die-in at the lobby of the newest Chase branch in Minneapolis. The action follows a blitz of demonstrations across the country this month targeting Chase Bank; from Chicago, to New York, to an action that happened simultaneously in San Francisco today; and dozens of demonstrations this year.
“The science is clear. Emissions just from the oil, gas, and coal reserves already in production would take the world well beyond 1.5° Celsius,” said Annunziata Feldis, a student leader with Voices for Environmental Justice at the University of Minnesota. “Meanwhile, Chase continues to pour billions into the companies that are pushing for fossil fuel expansion. Expansion projects, like the Line 3 pipeline, not only fly in the face of the Paris Agreement goals; they are dangerous for the health of local communities and the future of our planet.”
According to data from Rainforest Action Network’s Banking on Climate Change 2019 report, since the Paris Agreement, JPMorgan Chase has provided $196 billion in finance for fossil fuels. Chase is the world’s worst funder of fossil fuels and the world’s worst funder of fossil fuel expansion –– by a large margin. The $196 billion it poured into fossil fuels between 2016-2018 is nearly a third (29%) higher than the second worst bank, Wells Fargo. Additionally, Chase is one of several banks currently lending to three different active Enbridge pipeline-related loans, totaling approx. $5.4 billion.
“We are taking action today because Chase needs to be held accountable for its outsized role in the climate crisis,” said Ethan Nuss with Rainforest Action Network. “Our very future is contingent on an immediate end to the expansion of fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure. We won’t stop taking action until Chase takes real tangible action on climate.”
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