The climate rebels embarrass the Company and the Club by highlighting the title sponsor’s status as world’s #1 financier of fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement

Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin, 11th July 2024, 7:45pm As about 2,000 runners assembled, awaiting the start of the Docklands 5k, a group of Extinction Rebellion Ireland (XRI) activists with banners and flags, drummed and gave speeches, drawing their attention to the fact that the race’s main sponsor is the world’s number one financier of fossil fuels since the signing of the 2015 Paris Agreement and urged them to contact race organisers - Crusaders Athletic Club - to tell them not to take sponsorship from JP Morgan in the future. The activists pointed out the irony that, due to sea-level rise caused by the climate crisis, the course of the race is likely to be under water within the lifetime of many of the runners.

The activists held a large banner emblazoned “J.P. Morgan – sponsoring Crusaders AC’s 5K & Climate Chaos” with an image of Beckett Bridge and runners being submerged in rising water. One speech referred to the fact that access to Crusaders' home stadium in low-lying Ringsend is likely to be under water within a few decades. A three-metre-high scythe-wielding, skull-headed “climate reaper” puppet covered in the logos of fossil fuel companies that JP Morgan has financed, symbolised the death and destruction caused by the climate chaos that JP Morgan is funding. The reaper danced to the beat of the drumming. Other activists wearing bibs saying “JP Morgan, Climate Chaos Champion” and “JP Morgan Divest from Fossil Fuels" handed out leaflets headed “JP Morgan and Crusaders AC - an unholy alliance”, and spoke with runners and onlookers about the sponsor’s status as the number one financier of fossil fuels since the signing of the Paris Agreement, with fossil fuel financing totalling $430.9 B from 2016 to 2023.

JP Morgan also ranks worst among banks committing financing to companies with fossil fuel expansion plans. Earlier this year, JP Morgan announced that they would leave the Equator Principles, which set minimum standards on risks to the environment and local communities in countries where they finance oil, gas, coal, infrastructure, and mining projects.

XRI’s Trisha Kiersey, a grandmother from Shankill said “I do not think it is appropriate for a leading Dublin athletics club to accept sponsorship from a climate laggard such as JP Morgan. With the rising profile of Irish athletics on the European and world stage, I’m sure there are other more suitable sponsors out there who would be willing to lend their name to the Docklands 5K in the future.”

The 2023 IPCC synthesis report states that no more fossil fuel sources can be opened if we’re to avoid a significantly worsening climate crisis. It states that three billion people live in areas that are “highly vulnerable” to climate breakdown and half of the global population now experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. It warns that in many areas, “we are already reaching the limit to which we can adapt to such severe changes”.

The activists accused Crusaders AC of “sportwashing” JP Morgan’s public image. “JP Morgan sends billions of dollars to fossil fuel companies each year, causing massive environmental problems, and they think they can counteract all the bad publicity by giving a few thousand here and there to sports groups like Crusaders” said activist Sean Loughran of Balgriffin.

XRI wrote to Crusaders last year asking them to revise their sponsorship policy to exclude companies with ties to the development of fossil fuels but did not receive a reply. Activist Angela Deegan from Drumcondra, said, “I ask Crusaders to think, in the future, do they want to be part of the solution to the crisis or part of greenwashing the problem. And with the climate crisis escalating, how long before it gets too hot for athletes to compete in these 5Ks?”

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Resources:

Banking on Climate Chaos 2023 - Banking on Climate Chaos

https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/

Interrupting a Women in Technology event the activists underscored the bank’s hypocrisy in promoting equality while endangering billions of lives with their fossil fuel investments.

Video of the protest available to download here

Dublin, 24th March 2023: Yesterday evening, five climate activists with Extinction Rebellion Ireland interrupted the proceedings of J.P. Morgan’s Women in Technology event in their offices at Sir John Rogerson's Quay to highlight the company’s guilt in escalating the climate crisis through J.P. Morgan Chase’s role as the world’s top banker in fossil fuels. They demanded that J.P. Morgan divest from all fossil fuel companies and declared that “There are no women in tech on a dead planet”.

With about 40 mostly young women in attendance and panelists seated on-stage ready for the panel discussion to begin, the five female activists seated around the room stood up in sequence, interrupting the host’s introduction. Each activist made a succinct speech, building the case for why attendees should reject J.P. Morgan as a potential employer. They described J.P. Morgan as “part of the machinery that is funding climate chaos and driving the destruction of our planet”, and emphasized the disproportionate effect of climate disasters on women. They also urged existing employees of the company to demand that their employer divest from all fossil fuel companies.

After their speeches they chanted “J.P. Morgan pick a side, divest now or ecocide” and made their way to the front of the room where they displayed flags with the Extinction Rebellion logo and signs bearing “Women for Climate Action” and “J.P. Morgan Divest”. Eventually the organisers had no choice but to guide attendees out of the room, relocating the event upstairs. The activists remained to talk to staff about their responsibility in the company, before leaving peacefully.

This week saw the release of the 6th United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report (AR6) containing the stark warning that “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all”. The AR6 Summary for Policymakers states “The choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years.” It adds that “public and private finance flows for fossil fuels are still greater than those for climate adaptation and mitigation”.

One of the five activists, UCD student Sineaid Whelan, stated “The message from the world's climate scientists couldn’t be clearer. We must immediately slash emissions if we’re to avoid apocalyptic scenarios of climate catastrophe. With our outbursts at this J.P. Morgan event, we jolted the hosts and attendees out of business as usual. Every one of us can and must stand up to the forces of evil that are driving the climate crisis forward. And J.P. Morgan is one of those forces. More of us must demand that they divest from fossil fuel companies.”

According to the Banking on Climate Chaos 2022 report, J.P Morgan invested USD 382.4 billion in fossil fuels in the period 2016-2021, beating out the next biggest financier of fossil fuels by 35%. Their financing in that five year period included USD 225.71 million in the Adani Group which owns the Carmichael coal project - an enormous fossil fuel project violating Indigenous Rights in central Queensland in Australia. In that period they also financed Gazprom, the Russian majority state-owned energy corporation and fossil fuel giant Exxon Mobil Corporation to the tune of USD 4.6 billion and USD 15.3 billion respectively.

Yet sustainability features prominently on J.P. Morgan’s website. Their stated sustainability commitments include a goal of “transitioning to a low-carbon economy”. However, the company increased their fossil financing by $10 billion between 2020 and 2021. In her speech at the event, Emer Connolly of Drumcondra highlighted the company’s greenwashing. In a statement she said “J.P. Morgan claim they’re taking climate action, but this is pure greenwashing because, of all the banks, they are by far the biggest funder of fossil fuels.“

Other activists at the event pointed out the double-standard of J.P. Morgan trying to attract women to the company, when women make up the majority of the world’s poor and are disproportionately impacted by climate change that is driven in large part by the company’s investments in fossil fuels. They also pointed out estimates that 80% of people displaced by climate change are women - which leads to violence, sexual violence & human trafficking.

Student Síofra Byrne, Dublin said “This is what we know. Fossil fuel emissions are causing climate change. Climate change is endangering the lives of billions of women. J.P. Morgan is funding those fossil fuels. And their answer is to hire more women? If you want the world to be a better place for women then stop setting it on fire.”

Extinction Rebellion call out J.P. Morgan’s sponsoring of Crusaders Athletic Club’s 5K as an Unholy Alliance

“No 'Women in Tech' on a Dead Planet” - Extinction Rebellion Ireland disrupts J.P. Morgan networking event