12,000 students pledge to boycott citigroup credit cards
© Rainforest Action Network, 2001
October 22, 2001
Washington D.C. - October 22, 2001 - At noon today dozens of students from across the nation gathered today at a local Citibank branch, located at the corner of 14th and G streets, to shine the light on Citigroup as the top funder of projects that fuel global warming, deforestation, and human rights violations and to demand support for renewable energy alternatives. Wearing sun masks, the demonstrators delivered 12,000 student pledges to the bank refusing to do business with the #1 funder of global warming.
Students are at the forefront of the movement demanding that corporate financial institutions take responsibility for their role in funding global warming. Students have decided to focus their efforts on Citigroup, citing Citigroup as the number one financier of the coal industry and fossil fuel pipelines.
"We're asking Citigroup to raise the bar by which the business practices of all banks and financial institutions are measured," said Vanessa Pierce, student activist from Grinnell College and coordinator of the Hot 'n Bothered Campaign. "Until Citigroup steps up to the plate with a plan to immediately shift its investments from fossil fuels to clean energy, students will tell Citigroup: 'not with my money!'"
According to the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming will cause the earth to heat up by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit this century. Among the impacts of global warming will be massive species loss, sea level rise, the spread of infectious diseases, and extreme weather. The primary cause of global warming is carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels.
Among the contraversial fossil fuel projects that Citigroup funds are the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, the Camisea Project in Peru and Ecuador's OCP pipeline. In recent weeks, the OCP pipeline has sparked mass demonstrations across Ecuador to protest its route through the world-renowned Mindo-Nambillo cloudforest reserve.
Ilyse Hogue, Rainforest Action Network global fiance campaigner, stated, "The resistance in Ecuador to the OCP pipeline is one example of people refusing to pay the environmental and social costs of Citi's profits. Citi has a unique opportunity to make use their lending practices to make alternative energy sources accessible to the mainstream market and eliminate destructive projects like the OCP Pipeline."
A Washington, DC homeowner currently must pay $31 per month extra in the first year of owning solar panels. When banks allow homeowners to buy solar panels by refinancing their mortgages, the same system will save them $1,615 in the first year of ownership.
"Students across the country will continue to boycott Citigroup credit cards, jobs, and student loans until Citigroup stops bankrolling global warming," concluded Pierce.