Standard Chartered has been getting it from all sides today, ahead of its annual shareholders meeting tomorrow. The bank’s ongoing financing of fossil fuels has been called out in some creative and inspiring ways.
The day kicked off with what seemed to be a brilliant announcement from Standard Chartered. Sadly it was too good to be true, as it turned out to be a prank by Fridays for Future together with the Yes Men. They faked an announcement by Standard Chartered saying it would end fossil fuel finance and make reparations to local communities. It was highly believable and shows what’s possible for the bank. See tweet and reveal her.
And later today it was revealed that activists in Liverpool are targeting the bank over its sponsorship of Liverpool football club. They’ve created spoof ads and put them up all over the city and in front of the football stadium. Standard Chartered spends £30m a year on that sponsorship to export its brand to Liverpool fans in SE Asia where it has a big retail presence but is also helping to exacerbate climate impacts.
See Guardian piece here, and tweets to amplify here and here. You can see the images of the installations here.
And as if that wasn’t enough, Market Forces went public in the FT on Monday with a threat to file a shareholder resolution at the bank next year if it doesn’t drastically improve its coal policy. StanChart did an internal assessment of Adaro Energy and found it on track for 5-6 degrees of warming. But they went ahead and made a huge loan to the coal company anyway. Tweet to amplify here.
It’s absolutely amazing to see so much public pressure on a bank that has so far managed to hide in Barclays’ and HSBC’s shadow. No longer!
And it’s only Tuesday! Good luck to them for the AGM tomorrow.