Faith Leaders’ Message: Time for Change
Today in New York City, 24 clergy and lay faith activists from diverse religions were arrested for chaining themselves to the doors of CitiBank’s headquarters, physically blocking the building entrances. Approximately 75 people of diverse faiths took part in this action, which delayed the entrance of hundreds of Citi employees on their way to work
Standing behind handcrafted pulpits with colorful painted signs and banners reading “No Faith In Fossil Fuels” and “No Faith In Citi” at each of the bank’s entrances, the faith leaders wore traditional religious garb as they delivered a consistent message: Citi is immorally financing the climate’s destruction and needs to stop.
Protest participants included Quakers, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Unitarian Universalists, Indigenous, interspiritual, and “spiritual but not religious”— all calling for an end to fossil fuel financing, increased support for renewable energy, respect for Indigenous communities impacted by bank-financed projects, and climate-related loss and damage commitments from Citi and other banks.
A number of the participants were frontline leaders and people of faith from climate-impacted communities on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, with organizations including Fishermen Fight Back, Habitat Recovery Project, and For a Better Bayou.
This action was part of the Summer of Heat campaign, a series of demonstrations, educational programs, meetings with bank officials and direct actions to demand that Wall Street stop investing in the coal, oil, and gas projects. The summer-long effort has focused in substantial part on Citi, which is the world’s second largest fossil fuel lender since the Paris Agreement, pouring a total of $396.3 billion into coal, oil, and gas projects. In addition, Citi is the world’s largest funder of methane gas expansion. “Our faiths teach that knowingly causing harm is wrong,” said the Rev. Chelsea MacMillan, New York Organizer with GreenFaith. “Yet that’s exactly what Citi is doing by continuing to invest in new fossil fuel projects.”
GreenFaith New York Organizer Rev. Chelsea Mac Millan & GreenFaith NYC Circle Leader Pastor Jeff Courter
Lina Blount of Earth Quaker Action Team has organized members of the Friends community to pressure financial institutions to phase out their support for fossil fuels. “We are all connected. We must live for the planet and each other, not for short term profits,” she said. Blount was arrested at an entrance to Citi as she spoke from one of the pulpits.
Presbyterian pastor Jeff Courter, leader of the GreenFaith NYC Circle had sharp words for Citi: “We come to give a message to Citibank: Repent. Change your ways. Creation bears witness to the devastation caused by fossil fuels – typhoons and floods, wildfires, and droughts, and the poorest suffer the most. It’s time to put people before profits. It’s time to change.”
Rabbi Jacob Siegel, Climate Finance Advisor with Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action said, “People of faith stand with communities who live alongside dirty energy projects that poison their air and water. Citibank has been the world’s largest funder of new fossil fuel projects since 2016. It needs to stop financing fossil fuel projects that destroy the climate and neighboring communities, and it must increase its financing for renewable energy.”
This Thursday, August 1, hundreds of leaders and people of faith will hold an interfaith, family-friendly rally outside Citi HQ to continue to call for an end to Citi’s fossil fuel investments. Participants will enjoy live music, ice cream, and take part in spiritual practices led by faith leaders.
Later this week, a letter signed by over 500 faith leaders will be delivered to Citi Headquarters, calling on them to stop funding climate destruction and aggressively enable a green energy transition.
GreenFaith is working alongside religious and secular organizations to call on the world’s largest banks to phase out their finance for coal, oil and gas, while upscaling their support for renewable energy. To educate religious organizations about these issues, GreenFaith recently released a report entitled Sacred Earth, Stained Profits.
For inquiries, reach out to rose@greenfaith.org
