· 2 min read
illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on Friends of the Earth or enjoy below:
🗞️ Driving the news: 105 civil society organizations have called on major U.S. banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase, to stop financing industrial livestock production, which contributes to the climate crisis
• These banks have been heavily criticized for supporting meat and dairy corporations like JBS and Tyson Foods
🔭 The context: Industrial livestock production is responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions, with the top 56 global livestock corporations producing more emissions than Japan
• The open letter emphasizes that methane, which has 80 times the warming potential of CO₂, constitutes 70% of the emissions linked to these corporations
🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The financing of industrial livestock fuels deforestation, biodiversity loss, and global warming, hindering the planet's fight against climate change
• Ending these financial relationships is seen as a crucial step toward limiting global temperature rise
⏭️ What's next: Activists will increase pressure on the banks, with planned outreach targeting executives at JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup later in September to demand an end to financing these high-emission industries
💬 One quote: “Banks are complicit in driving climate change... Halting all new financing that enables the expansion of industrial livestock production is one of the most climate-positive actions banks can take,” said Monique Mikhail, Friends of the Earth U.S.
📈 One stat: Banks have provided over $615 billion in credit to the largest meat and dairy corporations since the Paris Agreement
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