We’re proud to report that as of this summer the chapter has moved all its funds out of Wells Fargo accounts. With this action, we’re part of a growing movement to cut ties with financial institutions that fund fossil fuel projects and threaten our climate and communities. In the US and around the world, institutions including insurers, churches, universities, and major cities have made commitments to divest from fossil fuels. Ireland recently became the first country in the world to commit to sell off all its fossil fuel investments.
A growing number of major international financial institutions are taking note, and many have responded with public statements and policies that they will not support some of the most extreme fossil fuel projects, including oil and gas drilling in the Arctic. Some of the world’s largest banks have made such commitments, including HSBC, BNP Paribas, and Societe Generale.
Yet while the divestment movement is gaining momentum, Wells Fargo continues to lag farther and farther behind. Between 2015 and 2017, Wells Fargo poured $4.6 billion into financing for extreme fossil fuels like tar sands, Arctic oil, and coal — a total that has gone up each of the past three years. The bank is also a key funder of the Dakota Access pipeline and the companies behind the proposed Keystone XL and Line 3 tar sands pipelines.
These investments — as well as Wells Fargo’s consumer fraud scandals, discriminatory lending practices, and funding for the gun industry, private prisons, and more — have attracted public outrage and prompted several cities and thousands of individuals to pull their money from Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo is investing heavily in a PR campaign to repair its brand image (you’ve probably seen the ads). The bank could actually earn some goodwill by pledging not to support drilling in the Arctic Refuge. But if Wells Fargo remains silent and continues pumping billions of dollars into extreme fossil fuels, we’ll see just how little they’ve changed.
You can show Wells Fargo how you feel in two ways. First, if you have any accounts with Wells Fargo, vote with your feet and leave. Second, please sign the online petition asking Wells Fargo to take a stand against drilling in the Arctic Refuge and stop funding extreme fossil fuels.
Photo: Protesters in front of Wells Fargo's San Francisco headquarters, courtesy Jane Richey.