10th October 2024: North West HXR protest outside JPM Bank, Manchester
On 10th October, health professionals protested outside JP Morgan Bank in St Peters Square to encourage employees to ‘raise the alarm’ about the climate crisis and shift company policy away from fossil fuel investment. Health for Extinction Rebellion (HXR) are protesting JP Morgan’s continuing financing of the fossil fuel industry despite the significant negative impact on people’s physical and mental health – across the world, but with a disproportionately greater impact on poorer communities here and overseas and communities in the global south.
HXR has targeted JP Morgan since 2021 due to the bank’s high and continuing levels of fossil fuel financing to the tune of $434 billion since the Paris agreement of 2015 (the international agreement which aimed to limit greenhouse gas emissions). JP Morgan is also the second biggest financier of oil and gas exploration in the Amazon which is the world’s largest carbon sink. JP Morgan’s own business principles include “A Commitment To Integrity, Fairness and Responsibility”, stating that; ‘We face facts’ and ‘We help strengthen the communities in which we live and work.’ Yet their economists David Mackie and Jessica Murray admit in their paper, written in 2020, that the climate crisis will impact the October world’s economy, human health, water stress, migration and the survival of other species on Earth. They state:
“We cannot rule out catastrophic outcomes where human life as we know it is threatened”.
In this action HXR’s focus was to persuade JP Morgan employees to examine and influence company policy and culture from within. Employees have previously spoken ‘off record’ to voice their concerns about the climate crisis and fossil fuel investment. HXR hope that appealing to employees’ consciences, encouraging them to find like minded colleagues and arming them with factual information can lead to genuine, significant cultural and policy changes at the bank.
‘I am here for my nephew (who is a GP) and for all my great-nephews and great-nieces.The behaviour of the fossil fuel industry and their supporters (e.g., banks, insurance companies and governments) is robbing children of their future. We know that children are already significantly concerned about the climate crisis (UNICEF report, 2021) and this is having a significant negative effect on their mental health. We also know that if the world does not reduce carbon emissions the children of today will not have a world to inherit which can adequately sustain and provide for them. The behaviour of banks such as JP Morgan is morally reprehensible and I urge employees to do the right thing and challenge the investment decisions that JP Morgan continues to make’. Cordelia Newsome, retired teacher.
‘Governments and companies that continue to finance and license new coal, oil and gas are doing so at the expense of their citizens. Fossil fuels are the drivers of climate change and air pollution in our communities. In the deadly heatwave of 2022 nearly 3000 people died from the extreme heat in the UK alone. This is an industry that has delayed and denied climate change for decades in the name of greed, putting profit above all else, and from a health and a moral perspective it’s beyond time to shut it down. Banks like JP Morgan need to stop financing new fossil fuels.’ Dr Katharine Fallon, retired GP.