Around 300 organisations, representing over thirty million supporters from around the world, called on the JPMorgan Chase to stop financing expansion of fossil fuels, and commit to phasing out funding of fossil fuels in time to limit climate change to 1.5°C.
In a letter addressed to Jamie Dimon, Chair and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, on the occasion of Chase’s Annual General Meeting, organisations like Indigenous Environmental Network, Honor the Earth, Chi-Nations Youth Council, American Indian Center – Chicago, 350 Chicago, MN350, Northfield Against Line 3, Centre for Financial Accountability, Environics Trust, and others from across the world, reminded Dimon about Bank’s support to the Paris Agreement and emphasised that Bank’s activities are antithetical to the goals of keeping global warming below 1.5°C and fully respecting human and Indigenous rights.
Demands
The CSOs demanded that JPMorgan Chase do its part to realise the goals of the Paris Agreement, which calls for finance to be “consistent with a pathway toward low greenhouse gas emissions.”
More specifically, the CSOs demanded the JP Morgan Chase to stop financing fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure immediately; phase out fossil fuel finance on a timeline compatible with limiting climate change to 1.5°C; stop financing projects and companies violating human and Indigenous rights.
JPMorgan Chase’s investments in the fossil fuel
Also referred as ‘the world’s biggest fossil bank,’ since the Paris Agreement was adopted, JPMorgan Chase has been the world’s biggest banker of fossil fuels overall, with financing nearly 30% higher than the second bank. It is world’s number one banker of Arctic oil and gas, ultra-deepwater oil and gas, and liquefied natural gas, the number two banker of fracked oil and gas, and the number three banker of tar sands.