Kicking off New York Climate Week, RAN and Parliamentarians for a Fossil Free Future organized Financing the Future: Aligning Finance with the Promise of the Paris Agreement, a forum focused on outlining the policies needed to shift bank and government funding from fossil fuels to a clean energy future.
Participants included US Senators Whitehouse and Markey, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, Indigenous Leaders, US Gulf Coast South community activists, the Prime Minister of Nepal, and policymakers from Peru, Tanzania, Brazil, Canada, Colombia and Bolivia. They detailed what needs to happen in the banking industry for a global energy transition and how we can build a clean energy economy with good, safe jobs and environmental justice for all.
“Finance is to rethink an economy that doesn’t kill us,” said Hon. Celiá Xakriabá, a gripping remark as her home country of Brazil experiencing the worst fires on record. This forum was a key opportunity for banking industry giants to hear from leaders in the Global South that their profits can’t be the most important consideration in creating financial policy.
The wildfires in Bolivia, across the Amazon and other ecosystems, driven not just by climate change but also harmful policies, have led to never-ending tragedy and horror. We are here in New York to ensure developed countries keep to their promises, even as we legislators from developing countries also do our part to improve our governments’ policies.” – Bolivia Senator Cecilia Requena
These leaders made an impression — and we’re already seeing results
The Global South leaders made an impression on other policymakers who are working on a just transition and values-aligned financing. Just a few weeks before announcing a new policy to exclude prospective private markets investments in downstream and midstream fossil fuel infrastructure for the portfolios of three of New York City’s public pension systems, NYC comptroller Brad Lander told the forum attendees:
We cannot allow short-term political distractions derail the progress we’ve made in aligning our investments with a green future. I am proud to stand alongside global leaders in responsible investing as we push for the urgent financial shifts away from fossil fuels, and my office is committed to aligning our pension fund investments with sustainable ESG principles, ensuring our pension portfolio sees long-term growth for all of New York City’s current and retired public workers.” – NYC comptroller Brad Lander
Senator Whitehouse commended Rainforest Action Network’s analysis like Banking on Climate Chaos which give policymakers like him the right information in forming policy to encourage corporations to be more responsible towards climate and human rights goals.
Policymakers from the Global South also connected with leaders from the Gulf South, like Roishetta Ozane, a Louisiana resident and founder of the Vessel Project, who shared what it means to live near the biggest fossil fuel buildout of our lifetimes, methane gas:
From the US south to the Global South, we will not let the fossil fuel industry and its bank enablers turn our communities into sacrifice zones. Stopping fossil fuel expansion where I live does more than save my kids, it saves everyone who will be directly impacted by this dirty energy. I’m pushing banks, our policymakers to do better for us, and for all of us.” – Roisetta Ozane
Many of the messages first shared at the forum then went into the high profile meetings during Climate Week, as Global South policymakers, UN representatives, community leaders and Indigenous officials continued to campaign for a just transition and a fossil free future. You can watch the whole forum below:
“The planet can live without money but money can’t live without the planet.”
The climate crisis is here. This forum is crucial for key players in the banking industry to hear directly from those who are on the frontlines of the crisis they’re financing. They can make an immediate impact by ceasing all financing and investment into fossil fuel expansion, followed by clear transition plans off of the fossil fuel industry.
