— Citi staff are speaking out on Citi’s fossil fuel funding right now. Join in confidentially by emailing confidential@bankonourfuture.org —
Communities affected by polluting projects that Citi funds descended to the New York headquarters on Monday ahead of the annual shareholders’ meeting, protesting and holding an overnight sit-in demanding an end to Citi’s fossil fuel funding:
BREAKING: Hundreds of climate activists march on @Citibank demanding an end to new fossil fuel investments as security blocks off entrance. #CitiDropFossilFuels pic.twitter.com/H8Iqx6bn6m
— New York Communities for Change (@nychange) April 24, 2023
This came in addition to all the other pressure happening all over the country, including nuns hitting the headlines for filing a climate resolution at Citi, a new report finding Citi as STILL #2 funder of fossil fuels of any bank in the world, and pressure from the Mets to drop Citi as a sponsor for its fossil fuel funding.
Then came the big event
Over 30% of shareholders backed a resolution demanding the bank account for its impact on Indigenous people through its funding of oil & gas companies and projects. Almost 10% of shareholders demanded the bank provide a timeline of when it will stop funding new oil and gas developments. For a bank that tries hard to deny its role in climate change, this isn’t a good look for Citi.
Skin diseases & asthma
Roishetta Ozane was one of the people who stood outside Citi’s headquarters while the bank locked her and shareholders out from physically attending the AGM (they said they held it online to “reduce the carbon footprint of Citi’s activities” but we know it was because they are scared of facing angry shareholders). Roishetta is from Louisiana and lives next to methane gas projects (LNG) that Citi funds. Her 10-year daughter Kamea has a serious skin disease and asthma. Two of her other children also suffer from asthma. Doctors have told Roishetta toxins from nearby plants are causing these conditions in her children. So she is fighting Citi and fighting its fossil fuel funding.
A system set up to fail
Despite the billions of dollars in investment the support for the shareholder resolutions at Citi represents, Citi will ignore it. Citi doesn’t want to be held to account on climate change or the impact its funding is having on Indigenous communities. Asset managers like Vanguard which own billions of dollars of Citi shares won’t force the bank to take responsibility because it is also failing to change its own policies to stop funding new oil and gas projects. It’s a system set up to evade accountability and keep funding a dying, dirty industry. This fight is bigger than an AGM.
Stand up, join the movement
The fight against fossil fuel funding by the likes of Citi will be fought and won by the tens of thousands of people who are standing up to them. Communities like Roishetta’s, workers fed up with greenwashing lies, elderly people worried about their grandkids’ futures, Indigenous leaders taking a stand against the abuse of their land: this is the accountability that Citi cannot ignore. If you’re concerned about the effect of Citi’s fossil fuel funding then stand up to it today.
— Citi staff are speaking out on Citi’s fossil fuel funding right now. Join in confidentially by emailing confidential@bankonourfuture.org —
