Gabby Brown, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted requests from Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs to refuse to allow votes on shareholder resolutions seeking to hold the banking giants accountable for their contributions to climate change.
The resolutions asked the banks to align their loans and investments with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, and to issue annual reports describing targets, plans, and progress under such a policy.
The Trump administration’s SEC took similar action last spring when it allowed an oil company to preemptively kill a resolution calling on the company to set a target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
In response, Sierra Club Campaign Representative Ben Cushing released the following statement:
“It’s unacceptable that the Trump administration is joining forces with corporate polluters and the banks that fund them to silence private investors demanding climate action. It’s becoming clearer by the day that dirty fuels are a bad investment and that the tide has turned against companies who refuse to accept that fact. Trump can’t silence the growing international movement calling for divestment from dirty fossil fuel companies and the financial institutions that are still propping them up.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, 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.