"Hey citibank, get off it, the planet over profit!" they chanted, outside the Citibank Corporate Headquarters.
“Citibank, shame on you. We deserve a future too!”
“No more gas, no more oil, keep your carbon in the soil!"
Listen to the science, plead scientists, risking arrest, asking Citibank to stop funding fossil fuel projects. If we want a future this has to stop, said Alice Hu, of New York Communities for Change after a group of 27 scientists were arrested on the third consecutive day of protests outside of Citigroup’s global headquarters in Manhattan, bringing the total number of arrests so far this week to 83. After shoving protesters yesterday, the NYPD was even more aggressive today, arbitrarily arresting 3 scientists who were doing a teach-in in the plaza, which is a public space.
Union of Concerned Scientists, Scientist Rebellion, and NASA Scientist Peter Kalmus led today’s action, and deliverred a letter from climate scientists calling on Citigroup to stop funding fossil fuels
Citigroup has poured almost $400 billion into fossil fuels since 2016 and is the main banking target of the Summer of Heat on Wall Street
New York, NY: Today, Wednesday, June 12 at 8 AM climate scientists and allies shut down Citigroup’s global headquarters in New York City. This was the third of four days of civil disobedience actions at Citigroup’s global headquarters, kicking off the Summer of Heat on Wall Street. The Union of Concerned Scientists, Scientist Rebellion, and NASA scientist Peter Kalmus will lead the protest, and will deliver a letter to Citigroup calling on the bank to stop funding fossil fuels.
Next up in this week of the Summer of Heat on Wall Street: On Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 AM, Elders shut down Citigroup. The Rocking Chair Rebellion will rise up to blockade Citigroup’s Global Headquarters using 50+ rocking chairs and the moral power of elders. This action will be led by Third Act with support from Climate Defenders, New York Communities for Change, Planet Over Profit, Stop the Money Pipeline.
On Monday, JuneOn Monday, June 10, 23 protesters were arrested outside of Citigroup’s global headquarters as 150 environmental activists blocked the entrance150 environmental activists blocked the entrance. On Tuesday, June 11, 100 orcas emerged from the ocean to sink Citigroup. And this is just week one!
This summer, thousands of frontline community leaders, youth, elders, and climate activists are coming together in New York City for a months-long campaign of relentless nonviolent civil disobedience. The movement’s main demand is for Wall Street to stop funding the oil, coal, and gas projects that are driving the climate crisis and the related widespread floods, wildfires, deadly air pollution, mass drought, and forced migration that kills and displaces millions each year.
This is the first time in history that climate activists will hold an entire season of sustained civil disobedience protests targeting Wall Street and big banks for their role in fueling the climate crisis. The Summer of Heat will take place during what climate scientists are already predicting could be the hottest summer on record.
With the conviction that cutting off the flow of money will stop the fossil fuel projects that are burning our planet, campaigners have set their sights on Citigroup after climate activists successfully pressured Barclays and HSBC to take steps toward ending their financing of oil, coal, and gas. Citigroup is the worst funder of fossil fuel expansion from 2016 to 2023. Since the Paris Agreement went into effect in 2016, Citigroup has poured $396.3 billion into coal, oil, and gas. Citigroup is the top banking target of the Summer of Heat and the first week of actions is focused on Citi.
The Summer of Heat campaign follows actions in April when Black and Indigenous climate activists convened an Earth Day hearing confronting Citigroup’s environmental racism, which was followed by two days of nonviolent civil disobedience outside of Citi’s New York City headquarters. Previously, in September 2023, protesters also non-violently blockaded every entrance of Citi’s headquarters.
Climate Defenders, Planet over Profit, New York Communities for Change, and Stop the Money Pipeline are convening the Summer of Heat, which has been endorsed by more than 95 environmental and racial justice groups, including Rainforest Action Network, 350.org, Indigenous Environmental Network, Texas Campaign for the Environment, Stand.earth, Friends of the Earth, and the Vessel Project of Louisiana.
From the Bronx to the Gulf South, Black, Latine, Asian, Indigenous, and low-income communities living on the frontlines of the climate crisis – and the ones least responsible for it – face the highest asthma rates and staggering cancer rates while an unprecedented number of people are dying from heat waves. Instead of staying home and hiding from the heat, organizers are calling on all New Yorkers and climate defenders from across the globe to take to the streets and demand that Wall Street stop destroying our future.
Letter to Jane Fraser and Citi Board Chairman John Dugan
June 10, 2024 To: Citi CEO Jane Fraser and Citi Board Chairman John Dugan As scientists, researchers, and experts in our field, we are writing to emphasize the acute nature of the climate crisis, and to urge Citi to adopt a policy excluding financing for fossil fuel expansion, particularly for projects and activities that pollute Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other frontline communities. The financial industry must recognize the physical harms and economic risks it is exacerbating by enabling fossil fuel expansion, and rapidly adopt new policies that align with a safer climate future. The increasing urgency of the climate crisis is undeniable. 2023 was by far the hottest year on record, continuing a trend of the last 10 years being the hottest decade. People around the world were affected by deadly wildfires, floods, droughts, and storms. The United States experienced the highest-ever annual number of billion-dollar plus disasters, many of which bear the fingerprints of climate change. Already, climate catastrophes are wreaking havoc on lives, health, infrastructure, ecosystems, and economies throughout the world—with those who have the fewest resources and who have done the least to contribute to the problem being most severely harmed. The science is clear that climate impacts will be significantly worse if we do not make deep, rapid cuts to heat-trapping emissions, phase out fossil fuels, and pursue a just transition to a clean energy system. According to the 2024 Banking on Climate Chaos report, Citi is the second-largest financier of fossil fuels since the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement, having poured $396 billion into the industry since 2016. In that same time period, the lion's share (80 percent) of global fossil CO2 emissions can be traced to just 57 oil, gas, coal, and cement producers. Research demonstrates that more than 40 percent of the increase in global mean surface temperature from 1880-2010, roughly 55 percent of the increase in ocean acidification from 1880-2015, and 37 percent of total area burned by forest fires in western North America since 1986 are linked to the emissions of the major carbon producers. The fossil fuel industry knew 60 years ago that its products could cause dangerous climate impacts, yet it chose to engage in a concerted campaign of deception and denial to delay climate action. The industry's deceptive practices continue to this day in the form of greenwashing and interference in political processes. This industry is fueling an existential threat to global society, and Citi must stop propping it up. Additionally, fossil fuel operations and petrochemical infrastructure pose serious environmental justice, public health, and human rights threats to people around the world, from "Cancer Alley" in the United States to unremediated oil pollution in the Amazon to chronic pollution and destruction of ways of life in the Niger delta. At a recent event called "The People Vs Citi: Confronting Citigroup's Environmental Racism," leaders from overburdened communities highlighted how Citi's financing of fossil fuels has harmed their communities by allowing for the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, petrochemical facilities, oil refineries, and oil pipelines, which disproportionately pollute communities of color. They also spoke about the fossil fuel industry's extensive human rights violations against Indigenous peoples throughout the world. Citi's stated commitments to racial equity ring hollow unless it takes accountability for the harms caused by its financing of fossil fuels and listens to the demands of affected communities. With this scientific evidence in mind, we urge Citi to phase out financing for fossil fuels, in line with what the science, justice, and public health imperatives show is necessary. Specifically, Citi must: • Stop financing and supporting coal, oil, and gas companies that are engaged in upstream oil and gas development, and all other companies investing in fossil fuel expansion.
• Strengthen sectoral finance exclusion policies, including ending funding and financing services for new and expanding LNG projects and their parent companies. • Increase financing for renewable energy in line with what is required for the world to make a clean energy transition and limit global warming to as close to 1.5°C as possible. • Ensure that human rights, Indigenous sovereignty, and the rights of workers are respected by every company financed, including renewable energy and battery mineral mining companies. • Take steps to acknowledge and make restitution for the bank's role in fueling climate chaos and environmental racism around the world and pay into a fund to support those bearing the brunt of extreme climate impacts, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Loss and Damage Fund. Given the urgency of this global crisis, Citi must adopt these measures swiftly. Rapidly phasing out fossil fuels is necessary to allow for a livable future for people, the economy, and the planet. Sincerely, (affiliations listed for identification purposes only)
Visit SummerofHeat.org for information on more weeks of actions.
Visit SummerofHeat.org for information on more weeks of actions.
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