May 21, 2019
Jamie Dimon
Chair and CEO
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
270 Park Ave.
New York, NY 10017
To Mr. Dimon:
JPMorgan Chase is the world’s leading banker of climate change, by a huge margin. The undersigned 300 organizations, representing thirty million supporters from around the world, call on your bank to stop financing expansion of fossil fuels, and commit to phasing out funding of fossil fuels in time to limit climate change to 1.5°C.
As we write, communities across the United States and around the globe are facing the devastating effects of climate change, in the form of wildfires, hurricanes, droughts and floods. Indigenous people are disproportionately on the front lines of impacts from, and resistance to, both climate change and fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure. Last year’s historic report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that while the effects of 1.5°C of warming are dire, 2°C of warming is vastly worse; keeping global warming below 1.5°C requires cutting carbon emissions by almost half by 2030, and to effectively zero by 2050.1 Potential emissions from oil, gas and coal already in production take the world well beyond 2°C, so we need an immediate end to expansion of fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure.2
You have stressed that you support the Paris Agreement. But JPMorgan Chase’s activities are antithetical to the goals of keeping global warming below 1.5°C and fully respecting human and Indigenous rights:3
- Since the Paris Agreement was adopted, JPMorgan Chase has been the world’s biggest banker of fossil fuels overall, with financing nearly 30% higher than the #2 bank.
- Since the Paris Agreement was adopted, JPMorgan Chase has been the world’s biggest banker of the 100 top companies expanding fossil fuels, with financing nearly 70% higher than the #2 bank.
- Since the Paris Agreement was adopted, JPMorgan Chase has been the world’s #1 banker of Arctic oil and gas, ultra-deepwater oil and gas, and liquefied natural gas, the #2 banker of fracked oil and gas, and the #3 banker of tar sands.
- Since the Paris Agreement was adopted, JPMorgan Chase has financed projects and companies that have failed to respect human and Indigenous rights, including Indigenous peoples’ rights to their water and lands, and the right to free, prior and informed consent.
JPMorgan Chase must do its part to realize the goals of the Paris Agreement, which calls for finance to be “consistent with a pathway toward low greenhouse gas emissions.”4 We call on your bank to align with this call and to announce that:
- JPMorgan Chase will immediately stop financing expansion of fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure.
- JPMorgan Chase commits to phase out fossil fuel finance on a timeline compatible with limiting climate change to 1.5°C.
- JPMorgan Chase will immediately stop financing projects and companies that fail to respect human and Indigenous rights, including Indigenous peoples’ rights to their water and lands, and the right to free, prior and informed consent.
In the coming years, today’s leaders will be judged first and foremost by what they did — or didn’t do — to address climate change. As you plan your succession, in what you have said will be your final years as head of the world’s biggest fossil bank, you face a clear choice. You can forge a legacy as the person who steered the banking sector away from its current path of driving the world toward disaster. Or you can continue with business as usual, and write yourself into history as the bank CEO who did the most to drive the climate crisis.
For our communities and a stable climate,
On behalf of the undersigned,
Patrick McCully
Climate and Energy Program Director
Rainforest Action Network
1% for Open Space
198 methods
350 Austin
350 Brooklyn
350 Charlotte
350 Chicago
350 Colorado
350 Corvallis
350 DC
350 Eastside
350 Eugene
350 Madison
350 Massachusetts
350 Montgomery County, MD
350 New Hampshire
350 New Orleans
350 NYC
350 Oregon Central Coast
350 Seattle
350 Silicon Valley
350 SW Idaho
350 Tacoma
350 Triangle
350.org
350Kishwaukee
350PDX
350Wenatchee
Abibiman Foundation
ADC Consulting
Africa Sustainable Energy Assocation
Agro-ecologie et Environnement Vert
Alameda County Interfaith Climate Action Network
Alaska Rising Tide
Amazon Frontlines
Amazon Watch
Another Gulf Is Possible Collaborative
Anthropocene Alliance
Aotearoa New Zealand Human Rights Foundation
Aseduca
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente
Asociación Potosina por la Dignidad Animal
Association Carre Geo & Environnement
Association CRI-AC!
Athens County (OH) Fracking Action Network
Attac France
Balkan Green Foundation
Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon
Bank Information Center
Banks Talking
BankTrack
Berks Gas Truth
Better Future Project
Better Path Coalition
Biofuelwatch
Bold Alliance
Bolivian Platform on Climate Change
Both ENDS
Bronx Climate Justice North
Buckeye Environmental Network
Bucks County Concerned Citizens Against the Pipelines
Bucks County Sierra Club
Bucks Environmental Action
Cambridge Zero Carbon Society
Canadian Union of Postal Workers/Syndicat des travailleurs et
travailleuses des postes
Carbon Market Watch
Catholic Divestment Network
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Coalfield Justice
Center for Earth Ethics
Center for International Environmental Law
Central California Environmental Justice Network
Centre for Financial Accountability
Centro para la Autonomía y Desarollo de los Pueblos Indíge-
nas
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Chicago Area Peace Action
Chico 350
Christian Aid
Citizens Against Longwall Mining
Citizens Coal Council
Clean Energy Action
ClientEarth
Climate Action Rhode Island
Climate Emergency Institute
Climate First!
Climate Hawks Vote
Climate Justice Alliance
Climate Justice at Boston College
ClimateMama
Coal River Mountain Watch
CoalSwarm
CODEPINK
Comité Nacional de Lucha Contra el Cambio Climático
Communities for a Better Environment
Community Enhancement and Environmental Awareness
Foundation
Cook Inletkeeper
Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la
Solidarité
Corner House
Corporate Accountability
Corporate Europe Observatory
Courage Campaign
Cream City Conservation
CREDO
Crude Accountability
Cultural Survival
Daily Kos
Dakota Rural Action
Direct Action for Rights & Equality
Divest Invest
Divest, Invest, Protect
DivestBU
Doodá Desert Rock
Earth Action, Inc.
Earthworks
East Michigan Environmental Action Council
Eco-Justice Ministries
EcoEquity
Ecologistas en Acción
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Environics Trust
Extinction Rebellion Seattle
Extinction Rebellion TC
FAIRA Aboriginal Corporation
Farmworker Association of Florida
Federation of Italian Christian NGOs
Food & Water Europe
Food & Water Watch
Fórum Mudanças Climáticas e Justiça Social: FMCJS
Fossil Free WashU
Foundation Earth
Franciscan Action Network
Friends for Environmental Justice
Friends of Lake Turkana
Friends of the Earth U.S.
Fund Our Future
Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales
Fundación Chile Sustentable
Fundacja “Rozwoj TAK – Odkrywki NIE”
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
Global Catholic Climate Movement
Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Global Justice Ecology Project
Global Witness
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Grassroots International
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Green America
GreenFaith
Greening Committee of Kehilla Community Synagogue
Greenpeace USA
groundWork/Friends of the Earth South Africa
Grupo de Financiamiento Climático para Latinoamérica y el
Caribe
Harford County Climate Action
Hawai’i Institute for Human Rights
Health Care Without Harm
Hip Hop Caucus
Historians for Peace and Democracy
Holy Cross International Justice Office
Honor the Earth
Human Being
Idle No More SF Bay
iMatter
Indigenous Environmental Network
Indigenous Peoples Major Group for Sustainable Development
Informed365
Inland Ocean Coalition
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Institute for Development Policy
Institute for Policy Studies
Instituto para el Futuro Común Amerindio
InterAmerican Clean Energy Institute
International Indian Treaty Council
International Rivers
Just Transition Alliance
Keeper of the Mountains Foundation
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth
Kentucky Resources Council, Inc.
Kiko Network
Korea Federation for Environmental Movement
Lakota People’s Law Project
LaPlaca and Associates
Last Real Indians
Lelewal Foundation
Les Amis de la Terre
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
Louisiana Bucket Brigade
Mangrove Action Project
Manthan Adhyayan Kendra
Market Forces
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Maryknoll Sisters Eastern Region
Massachusetts Peace Action
Mazaska Talks
Mi Villita Community Center
Midori Law Group
Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light
MN350
Moana Nui Action Alliance
Mosquito Fleet
Mothers Out Front
Mountain Watershed Association
Movement Rights
Mt. Diablo Rising Tide
N.C. Alliance To Protect Our People And The Places We Live
Na Koa Ikaika Ka Lahui Hawaii
National Association of Professional Environmentalists
Native Organizers Alliance
Nature Trust-FEE Malta
Naturvernforbundet/Friends of the Earth Norway
Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts
New Economy Project
New York Communities for Change
No Fracking Tamaulipas
Non au Gaz de Schiste 83
Northfield Against Line 3
Northland Sustainable Solutions
Not1More
Ocean First Institute
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
Oil Change International
Olympic Climate Action
Other98
Our Climate
Oxford University Climate Justice
Pacific Environment
Pacific Indigenous Peoples Coalition
Paradise Gardens and Farm
Partenia 2000
People & Planet
Physicians for Social Responsibility PA
Polaris Institute
Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma
Poor People’s Campaign
Portland Rising Tide
Power Shift Network
Presente.Org
Preserve Giles County
RE Sources for Sustainable Communities
Re:Common
Réseau Européen Églises et Libertés
Rising Hearts
Rising Tide Chicago
Rising Tide North America
Rising Tide Wenatchee
Rogue Climate
Rootskeeper
Rural Integrated Center for Community Empowerment
Save RGV from LNG
Schaghticoke First Nations Inc.
Science for the People
Seeding Sovereignty
SF Public Bank Coalition
ShareAction
Sherpa
Sierra Club
Skyline Church
Society of Native Nations
Solar Bear
Solidarity Houston
Solidarity Workshop
Solutions for Our Climate
South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment
Southern Oregon Climate Action Now
Stand.earth
STOP GAZ
SumOfUs.org
Sunflower Alliance
Sunrise Movement Chicago
Sustainable Energy & Economy Network
Taru Leading Edge
Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services
The Alliance for Appalachia
The Borneo Project
The FANG Collective
The Institute of the Black World 21st Century
The Leap
The Shalom Center
The Sunrise Project
Threshold Foundation
Tikkun Magazine
Tinker Tree Play/Care
Touche pas à mon schiste
Transition Berkeley
Transition US
Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion
UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Binghamton
Unitarian Universalist Ministry For Earth
Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community
urgewald
Valley Watch
Wasatch Rising Tide
Wenatchee Interfaith Climate Group
West Coast Environmental Law Association
WildEarth Guardians
Wise Response Society Inc
Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network
Young People’s Action Coalition
ZEROCARBON Energy Development & Information Centre
CC:
Matt Arnold
Ashley Bacon
Linda Bammann
Lori Beer
James Bell
Marisa Buchanan
Stephen Burke
Mary Callahan Erdoes
Phyllis Campbell
Todd Combs
James Crown
Timothy Flynn
Stacey Friedman
Mellody Hobson
Laban Jackson, Jr.
Marianne Lake
Robin Leopold
Melquiades Martinez
Michael Neal
Doug Petno
Jennifer Piepszak
Daniel Pinto
Lee Raymond
Peter Scher
Gordon Smith
William C. Weldo
- “Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5°C“, International Panel on Climate Change, October 2018.
- “The Sky’s Limit: Why the Paris Climate Goals Require a Managed Decline of Fossil Fuel Production”, Oil Change International, September 2016.
- “Banking on Climate Change: Fossil Fuel Report Card 2019”, Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Honor the Earth, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International and the Sierra Club, March 2019.
- “Paris Agreement”, United Nations, December 2015, p. 3.
