BNP Paribas, a bank we’ve been campaigning to stop funding oil drilling in the Amazon for the last two years, announced it is exiting all Amazon oil and gas – and taking its $6.3 billion of fossil fuel funding with it.
Victories against huge corporations don’t come around everyday. But this win is more than a celebration – It is a revival of our collective power and a demonstration of what communities are able to achieve when we band together from shore to shore. We can emerge from this win stronger and more ambitious than ever, ready to transform other banks throwing money at fossil fuel expansion.
There are still tons of banks financing extraction projects around the world. This is a key moment to harness this renewed energy and channel it into transforming other bad actors like RBC and Citigroup.
To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we need to end our reliance on fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy. Yet, from South America to Canada and beyond, fossil fuel projects continue to be greenlighted, often without consent from Indigenous communities, wreaking havoc on communities across the globe.
The Wet’suwet’en land defenders and their allies are continuing their fierce resistance as Coastal GasLink is days away from drilling under the Wedzin Kwah river, threatening the pristine waters at the heart of Wet’suwet’en territories, in northern British Columbia.
There are still banks and insurers willing to finance the construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline, despite it not having consent from Indigenous Nations along the route and it being nearly $17 billion over budget. The science, the people, and the planet are all sending a clear message: no more fossil fuels.
The world’s 60 largest private banks financed fossil fuels to the tune of USD $4.6 trillion since 2016. The fossil fuel industry is standing on its last legs thanks to ever-growing resistance, but the industry has deep rooted relationships with banks and financial institutions.
We have to build a powerful community to shift all that money away from fossil fuels and into renewable energy and a sustainable future.
We dream big because we know that creating a better future for all means standing with frontline communities and consistently fighting for Indigenous rights and sovereignty. And that to ensure no more pipelines are built and no more forests are burned for energy – we need to stop the money pipeline to fossil fuels and deforestation. It’s all connected.
Please take action today to fight for the future and stop financing fossil fuel destruction.
Source: stand.earth
