Thanks to your pressure, several of the world’s largest banks have said “no” to financing a huge coal project that would put Australia’s Great Barrier Reef at risk.1 But now, news reports have revealed that the U.S. government’s Export-Import Bank is considering financing this destructive project.2
Tell the U.S. government’s Export-Import Bank — don’t finance the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef!
This is an outrage: The U.S. government should be investing in climate solutions, not throwing coal a financial lifeline and trashing a global treasure such as the Great Barrier Reef. Even Wall Street thinks the coal industry’s plan to build a giant coal port in the middle of the reef is too toxic to fund; late last year, thanks to your activism, Rainforest Action Network secured commitments to steer clear of the project from four of the biggest investment banks on Wall Street. Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs all provided RAN with written promises to stay away from this climate- and reef-killing project.3 If this project is beyond the pale for Wall Street’s biggest banks, there’s no excuse for the U.S. government to commit taxpayer money to destroy the reef and turbocharge climate change.
We know that our pressure can help to stop the coal industry’s reef destruction. Thanks to your pressure, major banks have publicly committed not to fund this project, because it would be a disaster for the climate, the reef, and their bottom lines. Not only would this perpetuate climate chaos, the proposed Abbot Point expansion could threaten the breeding grounds of endangered green and loggerhead turtles.4 Now, it is time to use our voices to prevent the U.S. government from financing reef destruction.
Momentum is building to stop the coal industry from damaging the Great Barrier Reef. President Obama recently spoke out at a summit, urging Australia to protect the reef.5 Hundreds of thousands of global citizens have spoken out against reef destruction, and a group of ten European and U.S. banks has already walked away from the project. Now we need to make sure the U.S. government says “no” to coal port expansion in the Great Barrier Reef.
As an agency of the U.S. federal government, the Export-Import Bank’s mission is to finance the sale of U.S.-made products, not to finance foreign-owned coal ports across the world. If we speak up, Export-Import Bank chairman Fred Hochberg will hear us. Late last year, Hochberg urged the public to submit feedback about how the bank is doing. Now is the time to send a clear message that the taxpayer-supported Export-Import bank needs to stay away from the coal industry’s Great Barrier Reef destruction.
Sources:
1. “US Banks baulk at Abbot Point coal port expansion”, The Australian, October 28, 2014
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/us-banks-baulk-at-abbot-point-coal-port-expansion/story-e6frg9df-1227104282562
2. “Adani lines up $1 bln Indian state bank loan for Australian coal venture”, Reuters, November 17, 2014
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/17/adani-ent-australia-coal-idUSL3N0T769720141117
3. “US banks vow not to fund Great Barrier Reef coal port, activists say”, The Guardian, October 27, 2014
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/28/us-banks-vow-not-to-fund-great-barrier-reef-coal-port-say-activists
4. “Great Barrier Reef”, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/154
5. “Barack Obama confronts Australia over climate change”, The Telegraph, November 15, 2014
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/11232915/Barack-Obama-confronts-Australia-over-climate-change.html
