Thursday, September 28, 2017

Tell big banks: stop financing climate disasters


In 30 days, more than 90 of the world's largest banks will meet in Brazil to recommit to the set of rules guiding which big infrastructure projects they will and won't financethe Equator Principles.1

"Equator banks" have promised to avoid or minimize the social, environmental and climate impacts of such projects, and to respect the rights and interests of Indigenous communities affected by them.2

But they haven't kept their word.

All the recent hurricanes make it painfully obvious that we need to STOP funding more fossil fuel projects.

Sign the petition with our allies telling the banks to stop funding climate devastation and respect Indigenous rights.

For example, these projects are financed by banks under the Equator Principles, even though they negatively impact the environment and are resisted by Indigenous communities:
  • The Dakota Access Pipeline, built to pump tar sands, the dirtiest oil on earth, and fiercely opposed by the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Lakota Tribes for threatening their water sources.3
  • The Honduran Agua Zarca hydro project, where Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres was murdered for leading Indigenous resistance to the project.4
All over the world, Equator banks also continue to finance new coal power plants that will further add to climate disruption.

Tell the banks to stop funding climate devastation and respect Indigenous rights by signing this petition with our allies.

The October 24 meeting in São Paulo, Brazil is a clear opportunity for Equator banks to revisit their Principles and commit to a higher standard of practice. Advocates will be on the ground in Brazil, and local activists around the world are planning related actions around the same time to increase the pressure.5

As a powerful coalition of human rights, environmental and Indigenous-led organizations, Green American is demanding that Equator banks stop financing climate disasters and respect Indigenous peoples' rights and land.

We need you to sign on and show these banks that every customer on every continent sees what they're up to and demands that they commit to making changes.

- Todd Larsen
Green America

1 - https://www.equatorbanksact.org/
2 - Coal power plants, coal mines, tar sands exploration and transport, oil pipelines, fracked gas plants, deepwater oil rigs, oil exploration in the Arctic, and more have all qualified as ‘responsible’ projects under the Equator Principles, as have projects that violate international Indigenous rights. From the Americas to Australia, Indigenous peoples find themselves on the front line of struggles against fossil fuel extraction and transport projects, and also large hydro and other infrastructure projects that threaten their lands and way of life.
3 - https://www.banktrack.org/search#category=dodgydeals
4 - https://www.banktrack.org/search#category=dodgydeals
5 - https://mazaskatalks.org/divesttheglobe

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