We have less than 6 years to cut global fossil fuel use in half if we have any chance of keeping our climate from overheating past the 1.5°C danger zone. 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded — and communities around the world were devastated by climate disasters like heat waves, droughts, stronger storms, atmospheric rivers, flooding, record-low global sea ice, tropical cyclones, and a global wildfire crisis. Without rapid action, we’re on course to surpass 2°C or more — with devastating consequences for all of us.
Given this urgency, it is unacceptable that U.S. banks — including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs — are continuing to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into fossil fuel companies and their dirty expansion projects, being responsible for a combined $859.3 billion in fossil fuel expansion financing since the Paris Agreement.
The Big 6 U.S. Banks are some of the world’s biggest bankers of fossil fuels, and as such, we have a set of clear demands for you:
1. Exclude all finance for fossil fuel expansion immediately.
2. Adopt absolute financed emissions reduction targets for oil, gas, and coal aligned with a rigorous 1.5 C scenario.
3. Demand robust, 1.5ºC-aligned transition plans for all existing fossil fuel clients.
4. Protect human rights and the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
5. Scale up financing for a just and fair transition.
These are necessary steps for aligning the Big 6 U.S. banks with a world in which climate change is limited to 1.5°C and human rights are fully respected.
We are now in the decisive decade for the climate, and we need to see meaningful policies NOW. You must defund climate chaos – before it is too late.