Dear John,
The Arctic Refuge is one of our most iconic wild places. It’s home to polar bears and other endangered wildlife. And the Indigenous Gwich’in community has relied on these lands for generations.
Last week, in a huge victory for the Arctic, Goldman Sachs took a big step to prevent the destruction of this environment. It committed not to finance oil drilling in the Arctic. No financing = no new fossil fuel projects = a healthier environment.
But the Arctic Refuge and other vital ecosystems worldwide are still at risk. There are too many banks -- from JP Morgan Chase to Citibank, and Wells Fargo to Bank of America -- still willing to finance their destruction. So we need your help pushing them to stop funding the destruction of our wild places!
Help protect the Arctic Refuge: Tell Big Banks to stop financing Big Oil drilling and fracking projects!
As one of the last pristine ecosystems in the country, the Arctic Refuge should be protected, not opened for Big Oil development.
We know how drilling in the Arctic Refuge would end. It would cause irreversible damage to this fragile ecosystem as well as the communities that rely on it.
But many Big Banks do not yet ban financing extraction in these areas, and provide hundreds of billions of dollars in climate- and community-damaging projects worldwide. And despite Goldman Sachs’ progress, its policy does not go far enough. It lags behind its leading global competitors, particularly in Europe. It fails to go far enough on tar sands and gas, such as Arctic gas, and fracking.
Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Bank of America need to get their act together and stop contributing to the climate crisis -- and Goldman Sachs must do much more. But we need your help to push them to act.
Take action now: Stop Big Banks from funding the climate crisis and destroying precious wild places like the Arctic!
We know public pressure can force even the world’s biggest banks to act. Goldman Sachs’ new policy comes after years of tireless campaigning by the Gwich'in Nation and environmentalists against bank financing for projects in the Arctic, as well as Indigenous, frontline communities and environmental groups fighting other harmful projects worldwide.
Scientists say we have less than 11 years to halve emissions and transition to clean energy to save the climate. But as long as Big Banks stay on their current trajectory, they’ll push the world past these limits -- and cause disastrous impacts on the climate and local communities.
The only hope of preventing the worst impacts of the climate crisis, protecting places like the Arctic, and stopping Big Oil from harming communities around the world, is for banks step up and stop financing environmental destruction. They must slash their fossil fuel financing and end their poisoning and human rights abuses of frontline communities worldwide from polluting projects.
Demand an immediate end to Big Banks’ funding for fossil fuel destruction. Help push JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citibank to end fossil fuel financing.
Standing with you,
Doug Norlen,
Economic policy program director,
Friends of the Earth
