Deutsche Bank’s AGM was a huge target for climate activists around the world. And boy, that target was smashed to smithereens!
All the pressure resulted in Deutsche Bank pulling a bunch of financial support out of the gigantic Whitehaven Coal Mine in Australia. Deutsche Bank was set to help with the expansion of the coal mine that would have extracted millions more tonnes of coal from the ground. But by stepping back, Whitehaven are again scrambling to find financial backers for their climate destructive plan. Deutsche Bank has still not pulled ALL their financial support out of Whitehaven – but we’re making sure they get totally clean of their fossil fuel addiction.
It’s also come out that Deutsche Bank are not currently funding the devastating East African Crude Oil Pipeline. It’s a project set to destroy environments and displace thousands of people across Tanzania and Uganda. Deutsche Bank were suspected to be involved, they’re now saying they’re currently not. That’s great news, but now we’re pushing Deutsche Bank to make sure they never give money to EACOP.
Wins like this don’t happen by accident. They happen because thousands of us are coming together and telling banks to stop giving billions of pounds to fossil fuels. Here are just a few of the powerful actions that created our huge wins:
Amazing actions
1) Projections
Koala Kollektiv teamed up with StopEACOP and Fridays for Future to create a huge projection demanding an end to the EACOP pipeline. The projection was targeted at Deutsche Bank’s head office a few days before their AGM, making international news:
Am Montag haben wir eine aussagekräftige Botschaft von @NakabuyeHildaF und @Luisamneubauer auf die @DeutscheBank Zentrale in Frankfurt geworfen. Morgen liefern wir (Green)washing machines. Mach mit! #dbAGM #PositiverBeitrag #GreenwashingKills #StopEACOP pic.twitter.com/rzpcce2OqY
— KoalaKollektiv 🐨🐨 (@KoalaKollektiv) May 18, 2022
2) Luisa Neubauer reading at their AGM
Luisa Neubauer is a globally known Fridays for Future activist. And she found a slot to actually speak during Deutsche Bank’s AGM, to Deutsche bank leadership and all their shareholders. She used the opportunity to powerfully call for an end to Deutsche Bank’s fossil fuel funding around the world.
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3) Washing Machines
Koala Kollektiv also decided to call out Deutsche Bank’s continued greenwashing. They like to say lots of good things about sustainability. They commit to vague targets way off in the future. They even like to put wind turbines in the back of presentations to make people think they’re green. But just before their AGM, they got a present on their doorstep:
This is just a few of the powerful and incredible actions pulled off by climate campaigners around the world. All with one simple message. Deutsche Bank must stop pouring billions into fossil fuel companies. Immediately.