Frontline New York residents are taking over a section of Citi HQ in time for “Investor Day”, a day when hundreds of Citi’s super rich investors are getting together. They are raising objections to Citi’s massive investments into fossil fuel expansion and its huge exposure to the Russian economy, especially the energy sector
Citigroup is the second largest funder of the fossil fuel industry among all banks worldwide, the largest US backer of the coal industry, and it has the most invested in Russian fossil fuels of any US bank. Citi’s Russian investments is at least $10 billion, including 30% of Lukoil, a Russian fossil fuel giant.
The New Yorkers are calling for the bank to commit to proper, timed changes to its policies, to properly address climate change. They’re also urging Citi’s board to stop all relationships with the Russian oil and gas industry. Without doing that, City are “enabling Putin’s war of aggression.”.
Caught on footage: @Citi CEO Jane Fraser greenwashing in front of her HQ 👀
Being the largest US funder of coal is NOT real climate action. That's why we paid Citi a visit today during their Investor Day to remind them that we reject their greenwashing BS! #DefundClimateChaos pic.twitter.com/pjC2cq9ssa
— New York Communities for Change (@nychange) March 2, 2022
When Citi’s new CEO, Jane Fraser, took over last year, she pledged that Citi was committed to tackling climate change. Earlier this year, she announced Citi’s net zero pathway, which included absolute emission reduction targets–a first among US megabanks. However, that plan does not outline immediate plans for Citi to stop funding expansion of oil, gas, or coal – which the International Energy Agency claims is necessary to stay under 1.5C.
City’s plan gives the bank two years to make any concrete decisions, and it says nothing about how Citi will step away from the actual cause of climate change: fossil fuels.
Citi is the second largest funder of fossil fuel companies among all global banks–with $238 billion invested between 2016 and 2020 alone. Citi is the largest US funder of coal, the dirtiest and most destructive source of energy on the planet. And despite calls from Indigenous leaders in the Amazon for banks to stop financing oil and gas in the rainforest, Citigroup is the largest funder of the state-owned oil companies ransacking the Amazon for oil.
It’s simple. Fossil fuels cause destruction, whether it’s through climate change and war. Until Citi stop funding fossil fuels, including those in Russia, they are funding destruction and war.