Gabby Brown, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org
Oakland, CA -- Yesterday, shareholder advocacy organization As You Sow filed a shareholder resolution asking Wells Fargo to align its loans and investments with the Paris Climate Agreement by ending its support for fossil fuel development including coal, Arctic oil, and tar sands.
Wells Fargo has faced mounting criticism in recent years over its investments in controversial fossil fuel projects like the Dakota Access pipeline and others. Though the bank touts its public commitments to climate action and human rights, these commitments have not been reflected in the bank’s investments. From 2015 to 2017, Wells Fargo provided over $4.6 billion in financing for extreme fossil fuels, and it is one of only two US banks - along with JPMorgan Chase - that has increased its extreme fossil fuel funding each of the past three years.
In response, Sierra Club Campaign Representative Ben Cushing released the following statement:
“The days when banks like Wells Fargo could quietly funnel money into destructive fossil fuel projects that threaten our climate and communities without anyone noticing are over. The public, and now Wells Fargo’s own shareholders, will not back down until Wells Fargo cleans up its act and divests from dirty fossil fuels.”
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The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.