Reposted from Rainforest Action Network (RAN) with permission. Greenpeace is working with RAN to stop Bank of America from bankrolling reef destruction.Original post by Amanda Starbuck of RAN here.
The coal industry is trying to move forward with a deal that would threaten Australias treasured Great Barrier Reef and turbocharge climate changebut they cant do it without major financial backing. Three of the biggest Wall Street investment banks have said they wont fund the deal. But Bank of America wont commit to staying away.
Right now, the coal industry is pushing an incredibly destructive plan: to build out one of the biggest coal ports in the world right in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef. A huge corporation called Adani is attempting to dredge 3 million cubic meters of seabed, wrecking part of the biggest stretch of coral reef in the world and one of the planets most biodiverse ecosystems.
The Great Barrier Reef is home to thousands of species, including the endangered Green Sea Turtle, and its a crucial area for humpback whales giving birth and raising their young. Expanding Abbot Point coal terminal and massively increasing dangerous coal ship traffic would put a global treasurein fact, a protected World Heritage Siteat grave risk.
It would also cook the climate. The coal industry wants to build out Abbot Point so it can dig new mega-mines in a vast reserve called the Galilee Basin. That would double coal production in Australia, already the worlds second-biggest coal exporter. Unbelievably, in the midst of a climate emergency, Bank of America is considering bankrolling a carbon time-bomb on the scale of the Alberta tar sands.
Without the backing of major financial institutions, this deal cannot go ahead. Tell Bank of America to stay away from the Abbot Point coal port expansion.
For the last two months, RAN has been working behind the scenes, asking the biggest Wall Street investment banks to commit to not finance reef and climate destruction. An international coalition of environmental groups has joined the fight, and tens of thousands of you added your voices to a petition calling on Wall Street to stay away from this reckless deal.
Your pressure is working! In the last three weeks, weve won public commitments from three of the biggest Wall Street banksGoldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroupto not finance the Abbot Point terminal expansion.
