#ClimateBANKS #ClimateCRIMES Tuesday.

Chase bank killed the Paris Climate accord, screamed Billy and company. 

"Erik R. McGregor added 3 new photos — others at JP Morgan Chase Worldwide Headquarters.  New Yorkers and activists from the Stop the Money Pipeline Coalition gathered outside JP Morgan headquarters in New York on February 25, 2020 during Chase Bank’s Investor Day demanding Chase to end its massive funding of fossil fuel industry. (Photo by Erik McGregor)"

on the way to the action by diane greene lent

It feels like all  we’ve been at Chase Bank all week.

Saturday, a few of us did some direct actin day dreaming in a Chase Lobby near 42^nd street.

“IT'S EARLY & TOO LATE! Join us at 7 AM to rock Chase's world & stop climate disaster,” wrote my friend Todd Tif Fernandez announcing another action on the day of their  Investor Day on  Tuesday.

Memo to the Movement: can we please move protest back downtown, I thought on my way out the door, the sun only just coming up as I left Brooklyn at 615 AM.  

Riding through our majestic city, it sometimes feels like the whole world is right here, all the energy in the world.

For decades we’ve fought to create a sustainable  urbanism,  while the banks have other plans, extracting profit by the inch.

Banks can be part of the solution, joining  the community, instead of drawing red lines.

Yet the pattern persists.

At the action,  Billy and I talked about moving protest back downtown. 

But a  lot of darkness  is uptown.

So we navigate between the darkness and  the light.

Activists there to point out that there  is  another path.

“Easy to cut,” notes one flyer, “Chase Fossil Fuels lending  is only 7% of its portfolio.”

Even their own  advisors are warning of the extreme risks posed by Climate Change, as the Green Swan Report highlights:

“Climate change poses new challenges to central banks, regulators and supervisors. This book reviews ways of addressing these new risks within central banks’ financial stability mandate. However, integrating climate-related risk analysis into financial stability monitoring is particularly challenging because of the radical uncertainty associated with a physical, social and economic phenomenon that is constantly changing and involves complex dynamics and chain reactions. Traditional backward-looking risk assessments and existing climate-economic models cannot anticipate accurately enough the form that climate-related risks will take.”

The security guards didn’t seem so happy to see us when we arrived.

But the crowd from  Rise and Resist and  the Church of Stop Shopping and  Extinction  Rebellion were there to make a point to Chase and its backers.

As Todd Tif Fernandez reported afterward:

“Over 150 protesters swarmed Chase Headquarters.

Major Institutional Investors & Employees all felt the power!

The Bank actually blocked the doors creating the bottleneck :-).

Bravo to the whole team and all the co-sponsors, thank you!

Bravo ACTIVISTS who were in TOP FORM - what PASSION!

Chase announced move on COAL, but nothing on OIL-GAS POLLUTION.

GET READY FOR APRIL 23rd - MASS MOBILIZATION.

VIDEOS, PICS & TWEETS!

MEDIA HITS!”

CNBC

“This new commitment is intended to address a broader set of challenges in the developing world and developed countries where social and economic development gaps persist,” the bank said in a statement.
Despite the announcement, dozens of environmental activists protested outside the bank’s headquarters ahead of the annual meeting. Even after retrenching from some of its relationships, the bank will still be one of the major bankers to the fossil-fuel industry overall."  https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/jpmorgan-says-it-will-fund-200-billion-in-sustainable-deals-this-year.html

FINANCIAL POST

"The one target JPMorgan did raise relates to financing of environmentally friendly, socially responsible or economic development initiatives
JPMorgan pledged to put $200 billion toward such projects by 2025 as a lender, underwriter or intermediary, up from a prior $175 billion goal it had set in 2017.
The update came after years of criticism from environmental activists. Some stood outside JPMorgan’s investor day, partially blocking some entrances and demanding that the bank get rid of fossil-fuel clients."  https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/jpmorgan-executives-say-bank-is-big-enough-to-weather-any-storm

NASDAQ
"The largest U.S. bank will target $200 billion in lending and other financial services for green and sustainable companies and projects, up from an earlier target of $175 billion set in 2017, according to a presentation ahead of its annual investor day.

The new target, however, failed to satisfy some climate-change activists who flocked outside JPMorgan's New York headquarters, partially blocking some entrances and demanding that the bank get rid of fossil-fuel clients."

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/jpmorgan-raises-clean-energy-spending-goals-profit-targets-unchanged-2020-02-25