International Action on Financing Climate Change
Last week, climate change campaigners and activists around the world held demonstrations against the financial support propping up the fossil fuel industry. Mock trials, banner drops and a barrage of questions disrupted events put on by those involved in financing oil, coal and gas.
Royal Bank of Scotland AGM, Edinburgh UK, 23 April
Bank of America AGM, Charlotte USA, 23 April
Alberta Premier Dinner, Edmonton Canada, 24 April
Missed the AGM? You can still take action to stop RBS financing climate chaos. Email RBS Chairman Tom McKillop asking him to commit RBS to stop investing in fossil fuels and to increase investment in renewable energy.
Students try RBS for climate crimes
Image © Ric Lander
People & Planet, Edinburgh, UK
In Edinburgh, UK, People & Planet students demonstrated at the Royal Bank of Scotland’s AGM, holding them to account for their financing of some of the most destructive fossil fuel projects on the planet. Students gathered outside RBS’ Global Central Branch on St Andrew Square to put RBS on trial for climate crimes. After hearing statements from witnesses such as the Alberta Tar Sands, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, the people’s jury, made up of spectators, decided unanimously that RBS were guilty. RBS were given a boycott suspended sentence and ordered to:
calculate and publish the embedded emissions resulting from loans to oil and gas projects
cap embedded emissions and set annual targets for reductions
commit to a complete transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy lending
establish ‘no-go’ areas for lending: immediately halt loans to unconventional fossil fuels (eg tar sands) and which affect sensitive ecosystems such as rainforests
Should RBS not be able to prove to the court that they will meet these conditions by their 2009 AGM then a total boycott will be adopted on all RBS owned companies, including NatWest, Churchill Insurance, Direct Line and Ulster Bank.
The sentence was delivered to RBS’ Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Andrew Cave as well as a number of branch managers in Edinburgh. Cave stood, awkwardly waiting, as the sentence and verdict was read out over a megaphone, he responded with “…I will make sure the Chariman sees this”.
You can make sure Tom McKillop, ‘the Chairman’, notices your concerns by emailing him asking him to commit RBS to stop investing in fossil fuels and to increase investment in renewable energy.
Image © Rainforest Action Network
Mountains destroyed by mountain top removal coal mining
Rainforest Action Network, Charlotte, USA
Across the pond, Rainforest Action Network were demonstrating outside the Bank of America’s AGM in Charlotte, North Carolina, the same day.
Bank of America are involved in financing massive new coal projects in the US, including Mountaintop Removal, a means of coal extraction whereby the tops of mountains are blown off to expose the coal beneath.
At the Bank of America’s AGM, campaigners bought shares and went inside. Though there were only a handful of them, they dominated the question and answer session, making the big issue coal not profits.
Outside the AGM, campaigners were on the streets with retired coal miners, Appalachian residents and North Carolina citizens to demand and end to coal financing.
“Unlike the credit crisis, we can’t bail out a dead planet,” said Rebecca Tarbotton, director of RAN’s Global Finance Campaign. “Bank of America’s reckless investments in new coal-fired power plants are locking in an outdated energy infrastructure that threatens our climate, our communities, and our economy.”
Find out more about Rainforest Action Network’s Global Finance Campaign.
Image © Greenpeace
Greenpeace, Edmonton, Canada
Greenpeace activists in Canada disrupted a dinner put on by the Alberta Conservative party and Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach. The 1000 guests, who each paid $450 to attend, were distracted during Stelmach’s speech by two climbers who abseiled from the catwalk with a banner reading “$telmach: the best premier oil money can buy”.
“This government has approved every tar sands proposal that has come across its desk, last year the Premier appointed Suncor VP Heather Kennedy as deputy minister of tar sands development and his former Campaign manager Randy Dawson has been hired as a nuclear power lobbyist by Bruce Power. If this doesn’t speak to lapdog politics, I don’t know what does,” said Mike Hudema, tar sands campaigner with Greenpeace. “There hasn’t been a single tar sands project that has been rejected. It appears the Premier is either unwilling or unable to say no to big oil, despite the massive costs to Albertans.”
The two climbers, Denise Ogonoski and Steve Anderson were arrested along with Mike Hudema. They were ejected from the building and released on the scene.
Read the Tar Sands case study or visit Greenpeace Canada for more information.
Take action now, email RBS Chairman Tom McKillop.
Add your voice to those protesting at the RBS AGM and email RBS Chairman Sir Tom McKillop, asking him to commit RBS to stop investing in fossil fuels and to increase investment in renewable energy. We’ve provided suggested text below, but your email is likely to be more effective if you personalise your message.