Chase announces plan to align with Paris Agreement, but....

Amidst all the chaos and anxiety of 2020, a remarkable thing happened this week: JP Morgan Chase committed to align its business model with the Paris Climate Agreement — including all the loans it makes.

JPMorgan Chase has announced it is adopting a financing commitment that is aligned to the goals of the Paris Agreement. As part of its strategy, the firm intends to help clients navigate the challenges and capitalize on the long-term economic and environmental benefits of transitioning to a low-carbon world.

It’s a testament to the years of activist pressure that Chase has finally moved. You can read all about the announcement here.

It’s a significant step, especially for the world's largest funder of fossil fuels. But as our country burns and the Amazon dies, we need leaps, not steps. 

This new commitment doesn’t stop Chase from providing loans to coal companies. It doesn’t stop Chase from doing business with tar sands companies that are violating Indigenous peoples’ rights. It doesn’t stop Chase from loaning to fossil fuel companies that are still aggressively expanding their operations.

Chase’s announcement is a big deal — but it is nowhere near enough.

Can you take 3 actions today to demand that JPMorgan chase follow up this announcement with immediate action?

1. Call Chase CEO Jamie Dimon at 212-270-1111. There’s a short call script you can use here.
2. Email Chase executives and board members to demand that they follow up this announcement with immediate action. There is a template email and the email addresses of Chase senior decision makers here. All you need to do is copy and paste the message, and email it to these top two decision makers at the world’s largest funder of fossil fuels.
3. Click here to Tweet at Chase and spread the word about the announcement — and its shortcomings.

There is no doubt that the only reason Chase is starting to act on climate is the pressure it’s feeling from the climate movement. Now we just need to keep it up until it’s actions match it’s lofty words.

-Stop the Money Pipeline

More information: 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201006006106/en/JPMorgan-Chase-Adopts-Paris-Aligned-Financing-Commitment

https://stopthemoneypipeline.com/chase-climate-announcement/

Ask Chase CEO to stop funding fossil fuels

Tuesday is JPMorgan Chase’s Annual General Meeting, which is the bank’s most important shareholder meeting of the year. Over the last few years, climate activists have asked Chase to align its business model with the Paris Agreement and stop violating indigenous rights. They’ve also pushed to get climate denier Lee Raymond kicked off the board.

This year, we can’t go out and protest outside the meeting, but we can still get CEO Jamie Dimon’s attention by flooding his phone and inbox with calls and messages asking him to take climate action. So, this Monday or Tuesday, take a few moments to call or write.

Call: 212-270-1111

Call Script: “I’m calling because I want to ask that JPMorgan Chase aligns its business model with the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees. I hope that JPMorgan Chase will phase out all business with the fossil fuel industry.”

After you call, please consider filling out this survey to let us know how it went.

You can also send Jamie Dimon a personal email urging him to end the bank’s funding of the climate crisis. Jamie Dimon’s email addresses are: jamie.dimon@jpmchase.com and executive.office@chase.com.

- The Years Project

#stopfundingFossils

People power continues to build on Chase Bank and the KXL pipeline

JPMorgan Chase has got to be feeling the heat, because you answered the call to action! Over 2,000 of you called JPMorgan Chase to tell them to #defundtarsands and to cut ties with TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline.

And yet, late on Friday, JPMorgan Chase and 18 other banks renewed their support for TransCanada by extending two credit facilities totalling $1.5 billion. As the lead bank on both of these loans, JPMorgan Chase continues to provide TransCanada with the money it needs for its business, including its headline project, Keystone XL. This is unacceptable — but we knew this fight wouldn’t be easy.

JPMorgan Chase is a leading funder of TransCanada — and the #1 Wall Street bankroller of tar sands oil, one of the dirtiest fossil fuels on the planet. They are the biggest bank on Wall Street, and their investments in tar sands and extreme fossil fuels run deep. It’s going to take sustained people power and continued actions from this incredible network to move this corporate giant away from fossil fuels and towards honoring Indigenous rights and climate stability. Persistence is how we win.

Since the Nebraska decision that re-routed TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline, almost 45,000 people have signed the petition to JPMorgan Chase, demanding the bank stop funding TransCanada.


On top of all that, on December 7 a small group of water protectors made their way to The Plaza Hotel in New York City to the Wells Fargo Thought Leadership Forum, an exclusive gathering of over 1,000 of the world’s largest investors. The water protectors attempted to deliver the petition with your signatures to Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase’s CEO. These peaceful activists were forcibly ejected — but our collective message was heard loud and clear: NO KXL. Defund tar sands.

When more than 2,000 of you called JPMorgan Chase’s head business office and customer service line, here are some of the things you said:

• “I had been a Chase customer since 1964, but closed my accounts because of their addiction to funding the non-sustainable fossil fuel industry.”
• “I no longer use my Chase credit card and have advised my financial advisor to take out my investments with JPMorgan. I was trying to say this when I was cut off!”
• “I encouraged funding for green energy as opposed to tar sands.”

We’re going to have to keep speaking up, because this fight to stop the KXL pipeline is far from over. TransCanada is expected to make their final investment decision this month, formally deciding whether or not to move forward on the project — read more about what that means here. RAN intends to intervene at every key financial decision point to demand that JPMorgan Chase cut ties with TransCanada and end funding for tar sands.

-Ruth Breech, Rainforest Action Network