Hello All,
Two items on the Divest WA horizon today:
- A reminder that the WA State Investment Board (WSIB) meets Thursday, April 20 at 9:30am. The board pays attention to and counts every public comment, written or oral. Please consider submitting a comment even if it is only one sentence WSIB public comment. You will make an impact!
Written comments need to be submitted 24 hours in advance of the meeting (by April 19 at 9:30). To provide oral testimony, you need to email recep@sib.wa.gov 24 hours in advance. Here’s the agenda April 20_2023 WSIB agenda
- The 2023 New Banking On Climate Chaos Report is out! Banking on Climate Chaos is the best analysis of financing trends of the top 60 banks and over 2,000 fossil fuel companies worldwide.
TOPLINE FINDING: Banks poured $673 billion into fossil fuel companies last year. $150 billion went to the top 100 companies doing the most to expand fossil fuels – but after 2021 we don’t need any more fossil fuel projects.
They made it rain cash even as oil majors brought in record profits – $4 trillion dollars in 2022 alone.
A thorough analysis of bank loopholes shows that 96% of financing is at the corporate level – so most bank policies on restricting project financing don’t actually restrict their finance flows to the fossil fuel industry. For example, Bank of America and Citi both adopted policies in 2020 to restrict their financing in the Arctic, but together have financed ConocoPhillips for $1.6 billion since then – and thus have financed the Willow project. Fossil fuel companies are on the brink of a wave of expansion.
Banking on Climate Chaos presents the truth of banks’ actual climate commitments by revealing their fossil fuels investment. This report cuts through the greenwash and corporate double-speak.
Thank you for all you do!
Divest Washington
