Jump down to our Thunderclap actions!

JPMorgan Chase is the largest funder of extreme fossil fuels on Wall Street. In 2017, Chase actually increased its funding of tar sands by 400%, and its financing of the world’s largest coal companies 21-fold. This is unconscionable.

We are partnering with organizations such as Rainforest Action Network, Honor the Earth, Greenpeace USA, and Sierra Club to hold JPMorgan Chase accountable for its role in the climate crisis, and push the bank to immediately halt all finance of extreme fossil fuels.

Our Chase campaign started in April, 2017, when we envisioned, drafted and helped to pass a Seattle City Council resolution stating that the City wouldn’t bank with any bank that finances the Keystone XL pipeline; a resolution that sent a clear message to JPMorgan Chase, the largest financier of the Keystone XL pipeline, that there would be consequences for its funding of this climate-wrecking project.

The campaign really got off and running the following month, May 2017, when we delivered an ultimatum to JPMorgan: publicly commit to not funding the Keystone XL pipeline, or we will shut down your branches all over Seattle. When we received no response from Chase, we made good on our promise. In a major day of civil disobedience, 26 activists were arrested as 13 branches of JPMorgan were closed for the day. The action shone light on JPMorgan’s role in the climate crisis as never before, with breaking news stories on King 5, KOMO, Q13 Fox and Kiro, as well as national news outlets like the Young Turks and Democracy Now, and the front page of the Seattle Times.

We once again disrupted every Chase branch in the city as part of Divest the Globe in October 2017. Shortly thereafter, along with our friends at Mazaska Talks, we met with the Pacific Northwest Chairwoman Phyllish Campbell, and Chase’s Vice-President of Sustainability, Marissa Campbell.

At that meeting, we were told that Chase was going to reach out to the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands to hear how tar sands projects routinely and systemically violate indigenous peoples’ rights to Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Four months passed and then the news broke that Chase had actually increased its funding of tar sands and coal.

We then reached out again to Ms. Campbell and Ms. Buchanan, only to learn that they had not reached out to the Treaty Alliance, and that no action had been taken.

As a result, we joined with other organizations and helped to organized a major national day of action: #ShutDownChase. The action occurred on May 7 — precisely a year after our first major Chase action. But whereas the action in 2017 was only in Seattle, this year there were actions in 18 cities across the country, with the largest being here in Seattle.

We shut down 2nd Avenue outside of Chase’s PNW Headquarters with four tar-pees, as indigenous women, including Kayah George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Rachel Heaton from Mazaska Talks, and Roxanne White from the WA chapter of #MMIW, occupied the lobby and called on Ms. Campbell to join them to discuss Chase’s tar sands investments. Again, the action put Chase’s role in the climate crisis exactly where they don’t want it to be: in the public eye, on TV, in newspapers, and all over social media.

As we move forward, we continue to engage with Chase by taking our concerns to Matt Arnold, their Global Head of Sustainability, and hold him and others personally responsible for Chase’s egregious investments, that are abusive of people and planet. If you drive north on Highway 99 anytime now, you’ll even view some of our work!

To get involved in this campaign, please email Alec. The Chase work team meets once every couple of weeks, and always welcomes new activists into our midst!

Are you a Chase customer? Why not close your account, and send Chase CEO Jamie Dimon a “Dear Jamie” breakup letter” ?

(To make it even more effective, find the name & email address of your branch manager and send it to him or her, too–it’s important for the local branches to understand why people are suddenly leaving.)

Help us get their attention!

You can help by taking five minutes to carry out these three very simple steps.

1. 1. Re-tweet this
      
   2. Copy and paste the message below and send it to Chase through their Facebook page.
      

      Dear JPMorgan Chase,  

      I am writing today to ask that you stop funding tar sands.  

      Over 121 first nations and tribes have signed the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion. Former NASA Chief Scientist, Dr. Jim Hansen, has said the expansion of tar sands, the dirtiest form of fossil fuel on Earth, would represent “game over in the fight against climate change.”  

      I understand that loaning to such projects is normal business practice. There comes a time when what was once considered normal–be it slavery, a sweatshop, or sexual harassment–is seen to be profoundly immoral. When it comes to protecting a livable planet for our children, we have come to that moment.

      Given the stakes, we cannot allow business as usual. My ask of you is simple: stop funding tar sands. If you do not we will #ShutDownChase all over again.

      Sincerely, ADD YOUR NAME

   3. Call Chase CEO Jamie Dimon today: 212-270-1111.  Say: “I’m calling today to ask that Chase stop funding new tar sands projects, including KXL and Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline  Tar sands oil is the dirtiest fossil fuel on Earth, and is deeply opposed by First Nations and tribes. Chase has no business financing tar sands.” (If you want more talking points, you can find them here.)