WHY CHASE?
In 2015, scientific research published in Nature revealed that 80 percent of the world’s fossil fuels had to remain in the ground to avoid runaway climate change.
And yet since that report was published—the same year the Paris Agreement was drafted—banks’ fossil-fuel funding has gone up, not down. Every year, Big Finance pours billions of dollars into new fossil-fuel projects—and JPMorgan Chase is the worst culprit, by a wide margin.
The Numbers
- In the three+ years between the drafting of the Paris Agreement in late 2015 and a study conducted in March 2019, global banks, led by JPMorgan Chase, invested $1.9 trillion in fossil-fuel projects.
- In the same period, Chase loaned more than $196 billion to fossil fuel companies—nearly a third more than the second-highest offender, Wells Fargo.
- Between 2016 and 2019, Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America provided $80 billion of funding for fracking projects.
- Between 2016 and 2018, Chase provided $1.7 billion of funding for Arctic oil and gas projects
The Consequences
- Climate change becomes a runaway train. In November 2019, a team of leading scientists warned the world that we may have crossed climate change’s tipping points, and the crisis already poses an existential threat to civilization. Every extra degree of warming will set off more chain reactions, making the crisis ever harder to limit, adapt to, and ultimately, survive.
- Extreme weather events become more frequent and more extreme. Wildfires intensify. Australia burns. What will California’s next fire season look like? How many will die and be displaced in the next hurricane season?
- Climate migration increases. Drought in Central and South America has already forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. We see the crisis on our southern border. The number of people displaced could reach billions worldwide in a matter of decades.
- Indigenous people, especially indigenous women, continue to be kidnapped and murdered in fossil-fuel extraction zones (#MMIW). Regions that house camps of fossil-fuel workers are directly correlated with increased rates of sexual abuse, trafficking, and domestic violence against women and children, specifically indigenous women.
If you’re a Chase customer, you’re the one paying for all this. And you have the power to stop it. Divest today and tell Chase loud and clear: we won’t stand for murder in the name of profit.
Not a Chase customer? You still have power. Banks rely on tricks of public perception to keep their status, and that status is essential to maintaining their bottom line. Help us tell the world about Chase’s dirty secret, and drive mass divestment.
We don’t have to wait for the next election. We don’t have to win the electoral college. We can start taking the power back today.
DIVEST. SPREAD THE WORD.
HOW TO DIVEST
Step 1
First, find a new bank:
JPMorgan Chase is the worst culprit, but all big banks fund projects that destroy our climate and ecology and decimate human and nonhuman communities. If you’re taking your money out of Chase, consider switching to a credit union, a local bank, or a socially responsible bank—ideally one that’s a certified B-corp.
Step 2
We have compiled a simple toolkit to help you take your voice directly to Chase. Below you’ll find a step-by-step guide to maximizing your divestment impact – including a prewritten letter you can deliver to your Chase branch manager.
Check out the step-by-step guide below and remember to share your divestment action on social media! #ChaseDivest
Step 3
So you’ve divested from Chase; maybe you’ve even persuaded your friends and family to divest too. Great! You’re one step closer to holding the banks accountable for fueling the destruction of our planet. But you may be asking, what more can I do? How can I organize and mobilize to take more power back from Chase?