Rise Up for Change represents a coalition of groups from the climate justice movement taking action from 30th July to 6th August.
Switzerland has one of the largest financial sectors in the world, through which trillions of francs flow into the global economy every year. The economic activities financed with this money cause around 20 times more greenhouse gases than Switzerland produces domestically in its entirety. [1] That’s huge!
Not only private banks like Credit Suisse and UBS, but also the Swiss National Bank and other financial institutions invest vast sums in incredibly harmful projects like fossil fuel extraction. Credit Suisse and UBS together invested around $83.3 billion in fossil fuel financing between 2016 and 2019.
Here’s a roundup of what’s going on in Swiss finance:
ExxonMobil: Swiss money supports a climate denial champion
Since September 2020, the Swiss National Bank has increased its investment in ExxonMobil by more than a third to over USD 900 million.
Chevron: Swiss money for ecocide in the Amazon
Since 2015, the Swiss National Bank’s stake in Chevron has more than doubled from USD 290 million to USD 775 million. Credit Suisse had granted the oil and gas giant loans of more than 100 USD since the Paris Climate Agreement.
Total: Fuelling multiple crises with the complicity of major Swiss banks
“The devastation caused to the people and economy of Mozambique by Credit Suisse is gigantic. Credit Suisse is one of the contributors to the loss of livelihoods faced by the communities of Cabo Delgado. Fishermen have been moved away from the sea, farmers have lost their land, to make for the onshore liquid natural gas park. The bank could not have been unaware that it would be keeping and pushing thousands of Mozambicans into poverty when it was clear that the illegal loan would cause a debt crisis, economic hardship and even be used to make weapons. Credit Suisse cannot claim innocence for the militarization and violence to which it contributed” Dany Ribeiro from JA! Mozambique
Shell: Swiss money ruins the habit of thousands
Swiss National Bank’s investments increased from 2016 by almost 60 million to more than 300 million USD in the first half of 2021.
Enbridge: Swiss money for dirty pipelines
Oil sands development is one of the most polluting industrial activities in the world. You can see the destruction even from space. The habitat of indigenous people as well as animals has been destroyed across North America.
Duke Energy: Swiss money for coal greenwashing and false statements
Swiss National Bank has steadily increased its investments in Duke since the Paris Agreement and now holds more than twice the number of shares it did in 2015. Duke is the largest coal-fired power plant operator in the US and is planning to build more gas-fired power plants.
Duke’s power plants pollute the waters and air in North Carolina, US, which the former mayor of Charlotte (Duke’s HQ), Jennifer Roberts said “we have medical data and statistics that shows that the long-term effects of locating coals plants, biomass facilities, coal ash ponds, and other environmental hazards near BIPOC communities. Black Americans are three times as likely to die from asthma as Whites”
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