Responding to the call of Friends of the Earth France and Nonviolent Action COP21, 912 activists converged from all over France to participate in a large 'clean up' action of the main branch of Société Générale on the final day of COP24 in Poland. Despite violent police repression and the arrest of a demonstrator, the activists were determined that their call on Société Générale to end its support for fossil fuels and primarily shale gas be heard by the bank, and announced…

Following a recent update to its coal finance policies, Spain’s biggest bank Banco Santander has committed to ending its direct financing of coal projects (mining and power) worldwide, a decision welcomed as a good move by NGOs. [1] Santander’s new commitment comes just a few weeks after the release of a video pushing banks including Santander to end their coal financing. [2] The policy changes make Santander the twenty-first major international bank to commit to end project finance for new thermal coal mines, and the nineteenth to…

On Tuesday, dozens of Fossil Banks, No Thanks! campaign supporters from Japan to South Africa filled Twitter with photos as they sent messages to fossil banks outside branches, headquarters and even a sponsored sporting event. Twelve groups from nine countries targeted seventeen different banks, spreading the message far and wide: it's time for banks to stop financing fossil fuels! Here is a selection of some of our favourite photos and tweets from the day. The whole brilliant bunch of photos can…

While the latest IPCC and UN Emissions Gap reports both issue stark warnings on the need for an accelerated phase-out of coal power, the global coal plant fleet is still expanding. At today’s press conference during the UN Climate Summit in Katowice, Urgewald, BankTrack and 26 NGO partners released new research identifying the banks and investors backing a frightening pipeline of new coal projects.   “In the 3 years since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed, coal-fired capacity has grown by over 92,000 MW, and coal plants totaling…