JP Morgan Chase just announced it will align its business model with the Paris Climate Agreement. BlackRock just supported its first-ever resolution addressing deforestation company supply chains. Those two announcements are huge — but the companies are already backtracking.
The two financial giants just started discussing a deal worth over $10 billionwith Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, to provide it with a major influx of cash as oil prices hit an all-time low due to the pandemic.
Saudi Aramco is one of the world’s worst polluters. They’re one of just 20 fossil fuel companies whose relentless exploitation of fossil fuels is linked to more than one-third of all carbon emissions in the modern era. Worse, they aren’t just on the list — they sit on top of it.
Let that sink in: Saudi Aramco is the primary driver of climate chaos. Despite hurricanes, raging fires (yes, the West Coast is still on fire with devastatingly bad air quality), Wall Street continues to enable the flow of money into climate wrecking companies.
What’s more, these global brand names in world finance would be helping Saudi Arabia whitewash its appalling record of human rights violations.
Following years of campaigning, BlackRock and JP Morgan Chase have released various statements and introduced weak policies to start addressing the climate crisis. However, both companies have so far failed to live up to their rhetoric with actions.
We know these companies are feeling the heat and that means it’s time to take action now. The more pressure we put on the fewer of these deals will get made.
In solidarity,
Stop the Money Pipeline
P.S. The links above work on most phones and computers, but if they don’t work for you, you can copy the email below.
Dear JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock Executives and Board Members –
I was shocked to learn that you are considering facilitating a $10 billion deal to sell a major stake in Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company.
As the world’s largest fossil fuel company, Saudi Aramco is the primary driver of climate chaos on the planet. They’re one of just twenty companies whose relentless exploitation of fossil fuels is linked to more than one-third of all carbon emissions in the modern era.
In January, BlackRock promised to make climate action a priority in all of its business decisions. Just last week, JPMorgan Chase committed to align its business with the Paris Agreement.
Your support of Saudi Aramco reveals the emptiness and hypocrisy of your commitments. If your companies are at all serious about aligning with the Paris Accord, you need to take immediate actions, including:
Stopping financing for all coal companies (as defined by the Global Coal Exit List)
Excluding financing for any project that involves exploration for new fossil fuel reserves, expands extraction of fossil fuels, or builds infrastructure that incentivizes new extraction.
Committing to reduce your company’s overall climate impact on a timeline compatible with limiting climate change to 1.5°C. This means halving its climate impact by 2030 and zeroing it out by 2050.
Committing to using your shares to vote off company directors that are opposed to climate action, vote in favor of climate resolutions and use your full power as investors to demand climate action at the scale of the crisis.
Being at all serious about aligning your business with the Paris Accords would mean not facilitating a $10 billion deal with the world’s largest oil company.
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