WE'RE PUSHING BACK ON POLLUTERS AND THEIR PALS
TO PROTECT OUR WAY OF LIFE
LNG AND CRUDE OIL EXPORTERS ARE DESTROYING THE GULF COAST AND WRECKING OUR CLIMATE.
BUT THEY AREN'T DOING IT ALONE.
All along the Gulf Coast, fossil fuel polluters are racing to build massive new facilities to process and export methane gas and crude oil, and rake in record-breaking profits. In the process, they’re poisoning our air and water, erasing our history and culture, and wiping out our predominantly Black, Latinx, Indigenous and low-income communities.
And we aren’t the only ones in danger. The science is clear. Burning fossil fuels is leading to catastrophic changes in the climate that threatens millions of families around the world. That means even if you don't live on the Gulf Coast, our fight is your fight, and your fight is our fight.
But 'Terrible 12' Gulf polluters like Cheniere, Sempra, Enbridge and Freeport LNG aren’t acting on their own. To build their dirty projects, they need money, and lots of it. Where do they get it? Mostly from a handful of big, well-known banks and asset managers who finance the BILLIONS it takes to build the facilities that put OUR health and safety at risk.
We’ve had enough. The Gulf Coast Guard is a coalition of frontline community leaders and grassroots organizations coming together to push back on polluters and their pals. Across Texas and Lousiana, we’re mobilizing to call out the financial institutions, private equity firms, insurance companies and others that enable the destruction of our communities and climate.
Our goal is to accelerate a just transition to a clean energy future, where our communities are no longer a sacrifice zone for polluting profiteers, and our planet is no longer in peril.
BANKING BAD
THESE ARE THE U.S. BANKS FUNDING GULF COAST POLLUTERS.
As noted in the 2023 Banking on Climate Chaos report, fossil fuel financing from the world’s 60 largest banks has reached $5.5 trillion over the seven years since the Paris climate agreement. 2022 alone saw $673 billion in fossil fuel bank financing.
Of the dirty dozen big banks around the world most heavily invested in fossil fuels, half are based in the U.S. They are JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Three are Canadian: the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Scotibank, and TD.
Toronto-based RBC and New York-based JPMorgan Chase lead the fossil fuel financer pack, with $42.1 billion and $39.2 billion invested respectively (but disrespectfully!) in 2022.
Here on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, we’re well aware that RBC is a major source of financing for Enbridge, the company behind the proposed massive Sea Port Oil Terminal off the coast of Brazoria County, and also operator of the continent’s largest oil export terminal near Corpus Christi.
For its part, JP Morgan Chase funds Sempra, the company operating Cameron LNG in southwest Louisiana, and planning the Port Arthur LNG project, an enormous proposed methane gas liquefaction and export terminal in Jefferson County, Texas.
In fact, we believe that all 9 of the North American banks above have made investments in projects that toxify the air we breathe, pollute the water we drink, put entire Gulf ecosystems in jeopardy, and perpetrate environmental racism in our communities, all while pushing the world toward a climate catastrophe.
"Gulf Coast communities scored a victory when the White House directed a temporary halt on permitting new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities. In light of the horrific health impacts for people living near these facilities and the devastating climate impacts of LNG (methane gas is much worse for the climate than coal upon its release into the atmosphere), the moral case against these projects is irrefutable. But big banks and insurance companies have ignored the climate and community impacts of funding dirty fossil fuel projects for decades. Leadership is needed now to save lives on the Gulf and around the world. Wall Street must act as boldly as the White House."
OUR FIGHT IS YOUR FIGHT
YOUR FIGHT IS OUR FIGHT
We aren't fighting polluters and their financiers just to protect our own communities, but also to help safeguard the future of this planet we all share. It's time to work together to bring an end to the era of dirty fossil fuels and push for a transition to a clean energy economy, for the sake of our communities and climate. Please let us know you want to join our fight!