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climate defenders
68 'Summer of Heat' Activists Arrested in NYC Protesting Citgroup's Fossil Fuel Financing
"Citi's business model is frying our planet," said one campaigner.
Jun 28, 2024
Scores of activists were arrested Friday during a protest outside Citigroup's New York City headquarters, where demonstrators condemned what organizers called the megabank's "racist investments devastating Black and brown communities" and fueling the worsening climate emergency.
Around 1,000 people including environmental leaders from the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana gathered at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan's Financial District, where they rallied before marching to "demand that Wall Street stop funding the fossil fuel projects causing environmental devastation in mostly Black and brown communities in the Gulf South and across the globe."
The march ended at Citigroup's headquarters on the west side of Lower Manhattan, where organizers from New York Communities for Change said 68 people were arrested. The group said a total of 259 activists have been arrested during ongoing Summer of Heat on Wall Street protests, which it organized along with Stop the Money Pipeline, Climate Defenders, and Planet Over Profit.
"On Monday, climate activists from the Gulf South and allies held a roving speak out in front of financial institutions backing the fossil fuel industry, including KKR, BlackRock, and Bank of America," New York Communities for Change said. "On Wednesday, protesters held a civil disobedience action in front of the insurance conglomerate Chubb, which insures petrochemical projects destroying the climate in the Gulf South and around the globe."
One of the protest's organizers, Roishetta Ozane—who founded the Vessel Project of Louisiana—said that "projects that kill our communities like Freeport LNG (liquefied natural gas), Cameron LNG, Corpus Christi LNG, and others would not exist without the backing of financial institutions like Citigroup."
"Money made from them is blood money," Ozane added. "Since they destroy our homes, we're coming to pay them a visit. We will break this cycle of violence and exploitation now because later is too late. We want Citigroup to stop funding fossil fuels and to stop hurting our communities and our families."
As Stop the Money Pipeline coordinator Alec Connon explained in an opinion piece published earlier this month by Common Dreams:
Since the adoption of the Paris agreement in 2015, Citi has provided $204.46 billion in financing to the company's most rapidly developing new coal, oil, and gas fields. Remarkably, Citi has provided more money to those oil and gas companies than even JPMorgan Chase―the bank that climate activists like to call the 'Doomsday Bank.'
To be clear, I'm talking here only about the financing Citi has provided for companies developing new oil and gas reserves, not merely investing in infrastructure to keep the oil pumping from existing reserves. When we take into account financing to all fossil fuel companies, Citi has provided a little shy of $400 billion to coal, oil, and gas companies since 2015.
Citigroup contends that it is "supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy through our net zero commitments and our $1 trillion sustainable finance goal," and that its "approach reflects the need to transition while also continuing to meet global energy needs."
However, Climate Defenders organizing director Marlena Fontes countered that "Citi's business model is frying our planet."
"Every credible climate scientist says that we can't afford to put one more penny into fossil fuels, but Citi is the number one funder of fossil fuel expansion in the world," Fontes added. "Until Citi stops funding fossil fuels, they can expect resistance from everyday people like us who want our children to be able to play outside without coughing on wildfire smoke or getting sick from deadly heatwaves."
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'Financing the Arsonists': Scientists Arrested During Citigroup Climate Protest
"I invite you to join us, at any level of risk tolerance," said one participant in the New York demonstration. "It feels deeply meaningful—even joyful—to be a part of this movement and to stand on the right side of history."
Jun 12, 2024
Police arrested 28 people, including several scientists, protesting outside Citigroup's headquarters in New York City on Wednesday as climate campaigners continued a series of actions targeting the bank for financing oil and gas projects.
Dozens of scientists and allies, some wearing white lab coats, marched to the bank's entrances holding signs and banners with messages like "The Science Is Clear," as they condemned Citigroup for financing nearly $400 billion in fossil fuel extraction in the eight years after the 2015 Paris agreement was signed.
Several scientists gave speeches before or as they were being arrested.
"I have studied climate change since 1982," Sandra Steingraber, a biologist and retired scholar in residence at Ithaca College, said in a speech outside the Wall Street giant's entrances. "I've testified. I've sent letters to the White House. I've met with the science advisor. I went to the Paris Climate talks. But carbon dioxide levels just reached a new high, and Citi here is financing the arsonists."
Police arrested Steingraber, who, as she was being taken away in handcuffs, declared: "I'm not interested in writing eulogies for the species that I study!"
BREAKING: Scientists arrested for blockading the doors of @citibank, the world’s second largest funder of fossil fuels.
Citi is ignoring the science, so we’re bringing the crisis to their doorstep. #SummerofHeat pic.twitter.com/7sIvfr7kML
— New York Communities for Change (@nychange) June 12, 2024
The scientists' protest was part of a series of climate actions undertaken as part of the Summer of Heat, a program organized by Climate Defenders, Climate Organizing Hub, New York Communities for Change, Planet Over Profit, and Stop The Money Pipeline (STMP).
A total of 28 people were arrested Wednesday, including several scientists, Alec Connon, STMP co-director, told Common Dreams. Dozens of campaigners were also arrested at Citigroup's headquarters on both Monday, in a highly-attended kickoff to the summer activism series, and Tuesday, in an orca-themed follow-up.
During Wednesday's protest, the scientists delivered a joint letter, published Monday by the Union of Concerned Scientists and addressed to Citigroup's leadership, urging the bank to stop financing fossil fuel projects scientists delivered a letter addressed to Citigroup's leadership urging the bank to stop financing fossil fuel projects.
Activist pressure on major banks has risen in recent years following revelations—notably in the annual Banking on Climate Chaos report, published by nonprofit groups—about the key role they've played in funding oil, gas, and coal projects. The most recent report found that the world's 60 largest banks had provided $6.9 trillion in funding to the fossil fuel industry in the eight years after the Paris Agreement.
The pressure has had an effect on some banks: HSBC and, more recently, Barclays have declared that they would stop financing new oil and gas projects. However, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has reported that HSBC remains involved in fossil fuel deals.
Bank loans to fossil fuel companies are used not just to continue extraction at existing sites but also to explore and develop new reserves, even though the International Energy Agency has said there can be no more such development if climate goals are to be met. Citigroup has funded more new extraction than any bank in the world, the Banking on Climate Chaos report found.
Yet in response to Monday's action, Citigroup claimed it was part of the transition to a green economy.
"Citi respects the advocacy of climate activists, and we are supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy through our net zero commitments and our $1 trillion sustainable finance goal," a bank spokesperson said a statement, according to media outlets. "Our approach reflects the need to transition while also continuing to meet global energy needs."
The statement did not win over climate activists. "This is the sort of bald-faced corporate lie that could cost us our planet," Peter Kalmus, a NASA climate scientist, wrote in a Newsweek op-ed published Wednesday.
Kalmus attended Wednesday's protest. Standing outside Citigroup's headquarters, he said, "We've written thousands and thousands of papers and they have not listened to us. They're fools. They’re stupid. They're being unwise. They have to start listening to scientists."
Summer of Heat organizers have events planned throughout the summer. In the op-ed, Kalmus reached out to readers to join the effort.
"I invite you to join us, at any level of risk tolerance," he wrote. "In my experience, and in the experience of many other climate activists I know, civil disobedience has been a very effective way to create social change. And a big change is happening: A transition from a profit-above-life, colonial-extractivist, genocidal mindset, to a loving, sharing, interconnected mindset. It feels deeply meaningful—even joyful—to be a part of this movement and to stand on the right side of history."
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Dozens Arrested as Activists Target Citigroup for Bankrolling Climate Breakdown
"The atmosphere is electric as hundreds gather to shut down Citibank's Global HQ," one group declared. "We are here to demand a future free from fossil fuels."
Jun 10, 2024
To kick off a season of climate activism, Summer of Heat campaigners on Monday morning blockaded the entrances to Citigroup's headquarters in New York City to protest the bank's role in perpetuating climate breakdown.
The campaigners locked arms and held banners at the doors to the Citigroup offices, blocking hundreds of employees from entering, according to social media posts by Climate Defenders, one of the organizations behind the Summer of Heat. They are targeting Citigroup, owner of Citibank, because the conglomerate financed more fossil fuel expansion than any bank in the world in the eight years after the 2015 Paris agreement was signed. Monday is the first day of a series of nonviolent direct actions the organizations have planned under the Summer of Heat banner.
"The atmosphere is electric as hundreds gather to shut down Citibank's Global HQ," Climate Defenders announced on social media. "We are here to demand a future free from fossil fuels."
"Big banks like Citi must stop financing fossil fuels and funding climate chaos!" Stop the Money Pipeline, one of the other convening organizations, wrote on social media.
🚨BREAKING: Hundreds of Climate Activists have shut down @Citibank’s Global HQ in Tribeca, blocking off all entrances. @Citi is the largest funder of fossil fuel expansion since the Paris agreement. #SummerOfHeat #StopFossilFuelFinancing 🌍✊ pic.twitter.com/I9pcbRRlem
— Climate Defenders (@ClimateDEF) June 10, 2024
Police have begun arresting some of the activists, video and social media posts from Climate Defenders and other organizations show. Renata Pumarol, deputy director of Climate Defenders, told Common Dreams that dozens had already been arrested by 10:50 am ET on Monday, but didn't yet have an exact figure.
The arrests were expected and didn't dampen morale among the protesters.
"Arrests are happening now!" Stop the Money Pipeline announced on social media. "Our message is clear: If you keep funding the fossil fuel companies that are disrupting our climate and lives, we will disrupt your ability to do business."
"Citibank is the largest investor in expanding fossil fuels," a protestor wearing a lab coat with a Scientist Rebellion badge said as he was being arrested by police. "It is a crime. It is a crime against the planet."
Scientist explains why he’s getting arrested at @Citi @Citibank HQ today, the largest financier of fossil fuel expansion #summerofheat #endfossilfuels pic.twitter.com/j9xisYvMhM
— Climate Defenders (@ClimateDEF) June 10, 2024
In support of the action, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) on Monday published an open letter to Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser calling for the bank to stop funding new fossil fuel projects.
"The financial industry must recognize the physical harms and economic risks it is exacerbating by enabling fossil fuel expansion, and rapidly adopt new policies that align with a safer climate future," the letter states.
UCS plans to hand deliver the message on Wednesday at a "Scientists Speakout" Summer of Heat event outside the Citigroup headquarters, its statement said. That's just one of many upcoming events that organizers have planned.
"All summer long, we're going to be shutting down and blockading the headquarters of Citigroup and other banks financing new coal, oil, and gas projects," Alec Connon, co-director of Stop the Money Pipeline, told Common Dreams. "We're calling on New Yorkers and people from all over the country and work to join us. The time to hold Wall Street accountable for its role in the climate crisis is now."
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