SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Climate activists rallied on Friday outside a Chase Bank office in downtown San Francisco to call on JPMorgan Chase to halt funding fossil fuels worldwide.
Demanding JPMorgan Chase divert investment immediately from fossil fuels to prevent a climate crisis, protesters accused the financial giant of providing over 195 billion U.S. dollars to fossil fuel companies since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.
Annie Banks, a member with the Bay Area Climate Coalition, which organized the protest, told Xinhua that their action was one of a series of nationwide protests against JPMorgan Chase over its huge investment in fossil fuels.
According to Banks, Chase has not only invested in Coastal Gaslink Pipeline Ltd., a Canadian gas company in Vancouver, but also "has its fingers on many nasty projects" in the United States, Canada and other countries.
"We can't just ignore the climate crisis. People are feeling the impacts and seeing the impacts," she said.
The climate activists said emissions by fossil fuels are causing the collapse of natural systems leading to forest fires, rising sea levels, flooding, more frequent storm systems and the extinction of species.
Jessica Daremus, a San Francisco resident, said she is joining other activists in pressuring JPMorgan Chase to stop fossil fuel investment by closing her account at the bank's branch at Post Street in the downtown area.
"Closing the bank account is my personal action, and many people are doing it," she said, adding that they wanted Chase to know it was losing customers if it did not change its policy on fossil fuel investment.
