https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=IEPJ1iead90
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 20, 2019
Press Contacts:
Blair Fitzgibbon, Soundspeed PR, (202) 503-6141, Blair@soundspeedpr.com
Angie Viands, risingtide.chi@gmail.com
Frontline Leaders Hold Rally and Deliver Letters to Chase Bank Shareholder Meeting at Chase Tower
Broad coalition of groups calls on Chase Bank to divest from fossil fuels
WHEN:
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Rally: 11am-12:30pm
Shareholder meeting: 10am-noon
WHERE:
Chase Tower Chicago, 21 S Clark St
WHO:
Speakers include:
Janie Pochel, Chi-Nations Youth Council
Adrien “AJ” Pochel, Chi-Nations Youth Council
Andrea Chu, Chicago Asian-Americans for Environmental Justice
Rose Gomez, Rising Tide Chicago
Guy Anakhwet Reiter, Menominee Tribe against Back 40 Mine
Daniel Tildirim, 4 Necessity Valve Turners
Thomas Frank, BP refinery / IN/350 Calumet
Deni Mathews, SOIL (Save Our Illinois Lands)
Tara Houska, Honor the Earth
Partners include:
Rising Tide Chicago, Rainforest Action Network, Chi-Nations Youth Council, American Indian Center – Chicago, Honor the Earth, MN350, Northfield Against Line 3, 350 Chicago, Food & Water Watch, Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO), Sierra Club Illinois, Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), Chicago Area Peace Action, 350 Madison Climate Action Team, 350 Milwaukee, Sunrise Movement Chicago, Environmental Working Group – Chicago DSA, Extinction Rebellion Chicago, Greenpeace, and more.
WHAT:
Rising Tide Chicago, Rainforest Action Network and local and regional partners are holding a rally outside Chase Bank’s annual shareholder meeting to demand that the Bank divest from all fossil fuels to avert the worst effects of climate chaos. Leaders from across the Great Lakes watershed region will share their struggles fighting pipelines and other extractive industries, and we will fight for a just transition that respects and honors Indigenous and human rights. Inside the Annual General Meeting, a broad coalition of groups will deliver an open letter to Chase CEO Jamie Dimon signed by 300 hundred Indigenous, environmental, human rights and climate justice organizations representing over 30 million people around the world.
WHY:
Chase Bank is the #1 Wall Street funder of dirty fossil fuels, continuing to profit off of climate destruction despite clarion calls for change. According to the recent Banking on Climate Change Report 2019, the four biggest global bankers of fossil fuels are all U.S. banks — JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, and Bank of America. Notably, JPMorgan Chase is by far the worst banker of fossil fuels and fossil fuel expansion — and therefore the world’s worst banker of climate change. Since the Paris Agreement, JPMorgan Chase has provided $196 billion in finance for fossil fuels, 10% of all fossil fuel finance from the 33 major global banks. Chase is a key financier for Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline, which has not received consent from Indigenous communities along the route, and threatens the water source of millions of people. With the world’s leading scientists warning we have less than 12 years to avert the worst effects of climate, Chase Bank and other institutions must make swift transitions away from carbon-intensive industries and fund renewable energy sources.
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