Camp for Climate Action to target RBS in 2010
Climate Campers will join People & Planet in targetting Royal Bank of Scotland over massive fossil fuel investments with public money. The announcement comes one week before People & Planet's week of action and the bailed-out bank's Annual General Meeting in Edinburgh
The Camp for Climate Action has announced that it will be targeting the bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland in 2010. The news was welcomed today by People & Planet which launched the Ditch Dirty Development campaign to clean up RBS-Natwest’s investments in fossil fuels back in 2007.
Although the group’s summer camp location has yet to be revealed, Camp for Climate Action are promising that thousands will take action against the UK’s most controversial bank.
People & Planet members at Kingsnorth Climate Camp 2008
Image © Amy Scaife
RBS must investment in renewable energy not toxic fuels!
Louise Hazan campaigns manager at People & Planet said:
“This is great news for our long-running campaign to get RBS out of some of the dirtiest and most dangerous projects on earth, including Canada’s tar sands. The location of this year’s Climate Camp will bring the world media’s attention to a publicly-owned bank which is responsible for propping up companies delivering around 3% of global carbon emissions, and not before time!”
RBS received the biggest bail out of any bank worldwide and has long been criticised for being the UK bank that is the most heavily involved in financing fossil fuel companies around the world. In 2006, a report by People & Planet and campaign partners PLATFORM calculated that the emissions embedded in its oil and gas portfolio were greater than that of Scotland itself. More recently, another report identified RBS as the UK bank most involved with financing companies engaged in Canadian tar sands extraction which has devastating impacts on the climate and on the lives of indigenous communities.
Sonia Tiller, a spokesperson for the Climate Camp group said:
“The government refuses to do anything to prevent RBS from pouring billions of taxpayers’ money into incredibly destructive fossil fuel projects around the world. So it’s up to ordinary people to come together again and stop these climate crimes from being committed, just like we did at Kingsnorth and Heathrow.”
Climate activist Sean Freeman from Leeds said:
“It’s bad enough that RBS were funding some of the dirtiest fossil fuel developments to happen around the world - now they are using tax payers’ money to do this. First, banks caused the financial crisis, and now they are dragging us headlong into the climate crisis too.”
The announcement was made a week before the RBS AGM which is to be held on 28 April in Edinburgh and a week of action organised by People & Planet to highlight RBS’ role in the world’s most destructive project, tar sands. An indigenous woman from Canada, Eriel Tchekwie-Deranger, will be attending the AGM to question RBS executives over the impact of their investments in the destruction of her home and community.
Edinburgh student and P&Per, Ruth Cape, 21, said:
“The fate of my generation is bound up with the First Nation peoples of Alberta. The same tar sands extraction which is killing them now risks runaway climate change within my lifetime. Our money should be invested in green jobs building a low carbon economy, not squandered in poisonous tar sands.”
