This morning, shareholders at Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo voted 12.8%, 11%, and 11%, respectively, in support of groundbreaking resolutions pushing the banks to end their support for new fossil fuel development. Any resolution that receives at least 5 percent of the vote is eligible to be refiled next year, and anything that receives 10 percent or more is considered difficult for a company to ignore.
For the first time, the six biggest US banks – Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs – are all facing votes on shareholder resolutions pushing them to end their support for new fossil fuel development.
Today, in an open letter to Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley, over 100 organizations representing over 6 million people called on the world’s second-largest asset manager to enact the visionary financial leadership that is needed to meet the scale and urgency of the climate crisis. The letter comes with the launch of Vanguard S.O.S., an international climate campaign made up of civil society organizations, finance experts, grassroots groups, and climate activists, many of whom pushed BlackRock to start tackling its climate problem with the BlackRock’s Big Problem campaign.
Today, Bank of America announced new 2030 targets to reach its commitment to net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The interim targets set goals to reduce the emissions intensity from its auto manufacturing, energy, and power generation portfolios. The bank does not set absolute emissions targets.
Released today, the 13th annual Banking on Climate Chaos report, the most comprehensive global analysis on fossil fuel banking to date, underscores the stark disparity between public climate commitments being made by the world’s largest banks, versus the reality of their largely business-as-usual financing to the fossil fuel industry.
Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a draft rule that will require publicly traded companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions as well as the climate risks their businesses face.
Today, 120 organizations sent letters to the six biggest American banks urging them to stop lending and support for new and expanded gas export facilities, citing environmental justice and climate concerns as well as rising home heating costs for American communities being driven by the rise in exports.
Today, Citigroup announced new 2030 interim targets to reach its commitment to net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The plan includes a commitment to reduce absolute financed emissions from the energy sector by 29% and financed emissions intensity from the power sector by 63%.
New York, NY – Tonight, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink released his annual letter to CEOs.
In response, Ben Cushing, Fossil-Free Finance Campaign Manager with the Sierra Club, released the following statement:
Today, President Biden announced the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to be vice chair for supervision at the Federal Reserve, the Fed’s top regulator of Wall Street banks.
Today, Goldman Sachs became the third major U.S. bank to set 2030 emissions reduction targets under its commitment to reach net zero financed emissions by 2050.
Today marks the close of the public comment period on a proposed rulemaking from the Department of Labor that would restore flexibility to managers of pension funds and retirement accounts to consider the environment, social justice, and corporate governance in making investments and voting on shareholder proposals.