January 22, 2019
According to disclosures submitted to the non-profit CDP and reported yesterday by Bloomberg, Wells Fargo sees the climate crisis as an opportunity to make more money.
Sustainable Finance
Sustainable Finance
The Sierra Club's Sustainable Finance campaign is working to combat the climate crisis and protect our economy by moving the financial sector to stop the flow of money to fossil fuels, accelerate funding for clean energy, and hold corporate polluters accountable for their impacts.
How is the financial sector connected to climate change?
The fossil fuel industry, which is the biggest driver of the climate crisis, is enabled by money and support from investors and banks. If these financial institutions stop providing funds to companies trying to build coal plants, pipelines, fracking sites, and more, these dirty projects can be stopped. Investors and banks can also be a powerful force for accelerating the transition to clean energy and other climate solutions.
Fighting climate change is not only the right thing to do for our planet and people, it is also a financial necessity. The risks are increasingly clear and alarming: climate change will cause massive damage to our entire economy and millions of people’s retirement savings — unless bold action is taken now. Financial institutions need to put our long-term savings over the short-term greed of corporate polluters.
If we don’t act fast, climate change could lead to $38 trillion in annual losses to the global economy and 40 percent lost in global stock values by mid-century.
How can finance help fight climate change?
Financial institutions have different roles to play that can help drive climate action and protect our economy. Major investors and banks need to redirect trillions of dollars from fossil fuels to clean energy. And investors must also use their power as shareholders to change the dirty practices of big polluters, and hold corporate leadership accountable when they refuse to act.
To achieve our global climate goals, investments in clean energy supply this decade need to be 4 times as much as investments in fossil fuels. But major US banks and investors are still financing more fossil fuels than clean energy, lagging far behind where they need to be.
$869B
fossil fuel financing in 2024
$429B
fossil fuel expansion financing in 2024
US banks are still stalling on climate action
Banks are still betting big on fossil fuels. Since 2016, the world’s 65 largest banks have poured $7.9 trillion into fossil fuel companies around the globe.
Victory!
Thanks to leadership by Indigenous People, Sierra Club members, and investors around the world, dozens of global banks — including nearly every major US bank — have committed to not fund disastrous drilling projects in the Arctic. Our voices and actions can hold financial institutions accountable.
What we are doing
Activists and pension beneficiaries attend a board meeting for the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) in September 2024. Photo by Jakob Evans
The Sierra Club is part of the growing movement working to transform the financial sector’s impact on the climate crisis and to create a safer, more prosperous future for all. We’re especially focused on three key pillars:
Public Pensions: In the US, there are trillions of dollars in pension funds that must support the long-term interests of public workers and retirees. But these funds continue to pour billions into fossil fuels and don’t hold corporate polluters accountable. Sierra Club is working nationwide to get public pensions to demonstrate climate leadership through their investments and corporate engagement — including with the big Wall Street firms that serve them.
Wall Street: The US is home to many of the world’s largest financial firms. Major banks, such as JPMorgan Chase and Citi, and asset managers, such as BlackRock and Vanguard, are the biggest financiers of fossil fuels on the planet. Sierra Club is working to ensure that their clients, shareholders, and regulators are doing everything they can to hold Wall Street accountable.
Financial Regulators: Our federal government is responsible for protecting the economy, financial markets, and people's savings — all of which are increasingly threatened by the climate crisis. Sierra Club is urging US financial regulators to stop Wall Street’s risky practices and deceptive greenwashing, and to ensure that everyone can choose sustainable investments.
What you can do
Press Releases
January 17, 2019
Today, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink published his annual letter to CEOs. In this year’s letter, he describes an “increasingly fragile” global landscape and a need for corporations to be leaders and “address pressing social and economic issues.” Fink…
October 25, 2018
In spite of mounting concerns about threats to Indigenous communities and the global climate, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Crédit Agricole, along with 11 other banks, have doubled down on their support for tar sands pipelines, renewing a $1.41…
October 10, 2018
Today, international financial services company NN Group announced that it will withdraw funding for tar sands pipeline companies including TransCanada and Enbridge, the companies behind Keystone XL and Line 3, respectively, citing concerns about…
October 8, 2018
Today, on Indigenous People’s Day, Honor The Earth, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, 350 Seattle, Friends of the Earth France, and others launched a campaign calling on JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and French bank Crédit Agricole to end their…