By Luke Gelmi

Is your money funding the climate crisis? Bank customers around the world now have a quick and easy way to get an answer with a new online tool at https://bank.green/.

Part online service, part campaign group, Bank.Green sounds the alarm on the banking industry’s climate-destroying activities while offering ordinary people a way to investigate their banks.

Since the Paris Agreement, the world’s 60 largest private-sector banks have poured $3.8 trillion into fossil fuel projects. [1]

Bank.Green aims to raise awareness of fossil fuel funding through digital messaging, online seminars, and community-building in partnership with a coalition of movements and organizations, including BankTrack and Reclaim Finance.

Keeping global temperature rise under 1.5ºC to avoid runaway climate chaos is incompatible with continued funding for fossil fuels, yet most customers are not aware of their bank’s climate impact. 

Eight out of 10 UK customers at Barclays and HSBC were unaware that their banks funded fossil fuels, for example. [2]

Bank.Green encourages bank customers to see taking action against their banks as one of the easiest, most impactful personal acts to take in the face of the climate crisis. 

Their online bank-switching tool, https://bank.green, streamlines the process for customers to discover their bank’s fossil fuel record, explore sustainable alternatives, learn how to contact their banks, and switch or pledge to switch accounts.

“Past climate campaigners have waged important public awareness campaigns against banks that fund fossil fuels, and we are excited to build upon their work,” said Zak Gottlieb, co-director of Bank.Green. 

“Our campaign is based on the belief that in addition to campaign groups, banks also need to hear directly from their customers. It’s one thing to ignore a campaign group, but if your customers are unhappy, your business is in trouble. That’s why we are building a community of customers who are empowered to take action against their own banks.”

Please use this tool yourself and share this tool with others.

You can ask your own bank not to invest in fossil fuels, if they do, if you can’t yet make a switch to a bank that doesn’t support fossil fuel projects.

Also, tell people about this great tool when they first consider banking or if they are with a bank already, let them know as soon as you get the chance to do so, that this important tool is easily available.

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References:
[1] Banking on Climate Chaos report from Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Reclaim Finance, and other leading fossil finance NGOs: https://www.ran.org/bankingonclimatechaos2021/

[2] ICM Unlimited survey on behalf of Market Forces: https://www.marketforces.org.au/barclays-and-hsbc-at-risk-of-losing-three-million-customers-over-continued-investment-in-fossil-fuels/