Banks| Policies| Dodgy Deals| Campaigns
About us| Blog| Publications| Successes| Contact us| Donate
About BankTrack
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Jobs at BankTrack
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
History
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2023-01-23 00:00:00
Berta Cáceres: new rules for banks could help stop defender killings
2023-01-16 00:00:00
In the balance: Why European due diligence legislation must cover financial services
2022-12-08 00:00:00
Exposed: Western banks funding Qatar’s carbon bombs
2022-12-08 00:00:00
Right-wing attack on sustainable finance is the latest form of climate denial
2022-12-14 11:08:26
HSBC announces it will no longer finance new oil and gas fields
2022-10-13 15:56:39
More major banks and insurers refuse to support EACOP
2022-09-16 10:38:48
European Parliament passes emergency resolution against human rights violations & environmental threats linked to EACOP
2022-06-27 09:49:16
Crédit Agricole takes first step to phase out from the oil and gas sector
Connect
2022-11-22 00:00:00
Banking on Thin Ice: Two years in the heat
2022-11-17 00:00:00
BankTrack Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022
2022-10-21 00:00:00
Burning forests in the name of clean energy? How banks are failing to exclude the harmful wood biomass industry from finance
2022-06-28 00:00:00
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP): Finance Risk Update No. 3
2022-04-05 00:00:00
The BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark Asia
2022-03-30 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Chaos 2022
See all publications
Browse
Home
Banks
Policies
Dodgy Deals
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook
Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Instagram
Affiliate Websites
Fossil Banks No Thanks
StopEACOP
Forests & Finance
Banks & Biodiversity
Drop JBS
Bank of Coal
Don't Buy into Occupation
Home › News
Wet'suwet'en chiefs demand investors and financiers of Coastal Gaslink to divest from this and all future pipeline projects
Indigenous-led campaign, endorsed by 100+ groups, urges global investors and banks to divest from and stop financing Coastal GasLink and LNG Canada
Start
Banks
Dodgy Deals

By: Gidimt
2021-10-19
Unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ territories (Vancouver, Canada)

Contact:

Jennifer Wickham, Gidimt’en Checkpoint Media Coordinator, + 1 778-210-0067


Share this page:

Coastal GasLink pipeline route clearing in the McLeod Lake area. Photo: COASTAL GASLINK
Go to:
Start
Related Banks
Related Dodgy Deals

The Gidimt’en Checkpoint from the Wet’suwet’en Nation — the same Nation whose protests sparked rail blockades across Canada in 2020 — issued a letter today to over 35 Coastal GasLink (CGL) investors and banks in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States. The letter demands investors and banks — including JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, RBC, Scotiabank, BMO, Royal Dutch Shell, and CaixaBank — cease and withdraw all support from Coastal GasLink and LNG Canada and highlights how financing the project violates Indigenous rights and breaks any investor commitments to racial justice, reconciliation, and social responsibility.

Coastal GasLink is a proposed 670-kilometer-long pipeline that would carry fracked gas from northeast BC to a future liquefied natural gas terminal on the coast, LNG Canada, the largest of its kind ever proposed in Canada.

Endorsed by over 100 organizations around the world, the #DivestCGL campaign mirrors the pressure tactics which led to 16 insurance companies dropping the Trans Mountain (TMX) pipeline project.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline violates Wet’suwet’en rights and title, and lacks consent of Wet’suwet’en Nation hereditary chiefs. The 37 investors and banks targeted by the campaign include Canada’s Big 5 Banks, which last month issued statements committing to justice for Indigenous peoples. RBC sponsored Truth and Reconciliation Week, which included broadcast programs on the Truth and Reconciliation Commmission’s calls to action. One of these calls is for corporations to commit to meaningful consultation and building respectful relationships with Indigenous peoples before proceeding with economic development projects. Against the backdrop of the banks’ recent public commitments to reconciliation, the banks’ hypocrisy in financing Coastal GasLink is especially striking.

“Reconciliation isn’t financing a project that’s destroying our land, without our consent. Coastal GasLink has not engaged in respectful consultation with us. Backing this project implicates investors in perpetuating violence to our land and on my people,” says Molly Wickham, Gidimt’en, Wet’suwet’en Nation, Hereditary name Sleydo’. “If investors are serious about their commitments to social responsibility and racial justice, they must commit to not financing projects that threaten Wet’suwet’en sovereignty, violate our land and sacrifice our future. Otherwise, when companies talk of reconciliation, it’s just empty promises — and we’ve had more than enough of those already.”

The 100+ groups pledging solidarity from around the world include 350.org, Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network in Australia, Oil Change International, Leadnow, Rainforest Action Network, RAVEN, Fossil Free California and Giniw Collective, an Indigenous and women-led frontline resistance group in the United States.

“At what point do corporations, which are made up of people, begin to act like fellow human beings who drink water? How much more of the world needs to burn and how many more gross human rights violations are tolerable by actors engaged in investments that steal life from future generations? Accountability and oversight are more than owed for such reckless behavior, at this point in the climate crisis,” says Tara Houska, Couchiching First Nation, founder of Giniw Collective. “We stand in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders protecting the sacred and standing up to corporate greed.”

“New fossil fuel projects are not only inconsistent with the Paris Agreement, they are risky investments because they will inevitably become stranded assets as the world shifts to renewable energy,” says Rob Henderson, former Chief Economist, Markets at National Australia Bank, one of Coastal GasLink’s investors.The Australian economics and finance consultant adds, “Financing Coastal GasLink is a huge backwards step for National Australia Bank and a real blow to the bank’s standing with the increasingly influential Corporate Social Responsibility investment community, both because it is a fossil fuel enabling development, and also that it is in direct conflict with the wishes of local Indigenous people."

“This pipeline isn't about the so called “safe” transportation of a necessary product its the final gasp of a dying industry desperately trying to perpetuate fossil fuel use in a society that knows its past time to to make better choices for energy use, “ said Amy Gray, Senior Climate Finance Strategist at Stand.earth. “All pipelines leak and they wreak havoc from the extraction through the route of the pipeline all the way to the communities who live in the shadow of the refineries. It’s time to stop funding these dangerous pipelines and respect Indigenous sovereignty, frontline communities and re-invest in a just and equitable transition to renewable energy.”

The Coastal GasLink project is at the centre of a high-profile conflict over Wet’suwet’en land rights. On January 4, 2020, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary chiefs served an eviction notice to Coastal GasLink for proceeding to construct the pipeline without their consent, which was ignored by the company. Shortly after, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) conducted a five-day military raid on resistance camps, violently evicting land defenders. This set off nationwide solidarity protests and railway blockades, delaying shipping traffic for weeks and garnering global media attention.

Today, militarized police presence continues on Wet’suwet’en territory, with the ongoing conflict involving forceful arrests of land defenders protecting a culturally significant ancient site. Last week, Gidimt’en Checkpoint issued a call to action to supporters for global solidarity actions, to shine a light on Coastal GasLink’s continued violation of Wet’suwet’en rights.

Additional quotes

"Corporations need to step up and deliver on their commitments to social responsibility. Banks and investors need to stop financing fossil fuel projects that violate the rights and sovereignty of Indigenous people for their own financial gain," says Mary Lovell from Rainforest Action Network. "Global investors are due for a moment of reckoning, as they face increasing resistance to these toxic projects that harm communities. Climate justice is racial justice, and these corporations are being held accountable for their actions.

Endorsed by 100+ organisations (including BankTrack). For the full list see here.

From www.yintahaccess.com

Go to:
Start
Related Banks
Related Dodgy Deals

Related banks

Bank of Montreal (BMO) Canada

active

CaixaBank Spain

active

Citi United States

active

JPMorgan Chase United States

active

National Australia Bank (NAB) Australia

active

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Canada

active

Scotiabank Canada

active
Go to:
Start
Related Banks
Related Dodgy Deals

Related Dodgy Deals

Projects

active

Coastal GasLink pipeline Canada

Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas
active

Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project (TMEP) Canada

Pipeline Transportation of Crude Oil
There are no projects active for this item now.

Companies

active

Shell United Kingdom

LNG Terminal | Oil and Gas Extraction | Pipeline Transportation of Crude Oil | Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas
There are no companies active for this item now.
Browse
Home
Banks
Policies
Dodgy Deals
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook
Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Instagram
Affiliate Websites
Fossil Banks No Thanks
StopEACOP
Forests & Finance
Banks & Biodiversity
Drop JBS
Bank of Coal
Don't Buy into Occupation
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Tel: +31 24 324 9220
Contact@banktrack.org
©2016 BankTrack                Webdesign by BankTrack and EASYmind
BankTrack is a registered charity in the Netherlands (ANBI) - RSIN 813874658
Find our privacy policy here

Stay up to date

Sign up now for all BankTrack's news


Make a comment

Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted