JPMorgan Chase: Indigenous Leaders to demand end to fossil fuel financing outside bank’s Glasgow headquarters

Several indigenous leaders and community members from across the world will gather outside the Glasgow headquarters of JPMorgan Chase on Wednesday.

The leaders, from North America and the Ecuadorian Amazon, are “directly impacted by the extraction and destruction funded by JPMorgan Chase” according to nonprofit organisation Amazon Watch.

Leaders will deliver their demands for the bank to completely stop all financing of fossil fuels when they gather at 2.15pm on Wednesday.

Speakers include a representative of the Wet’suwet’en nation in Canada who will discuss the Coastal GasLink pipeline which is currently under construction in British Columbia.

Maricela Gualinga, Vice President of the Kichwa Sarayaku people of the Ecuadorian Amazon, meanwhile, will speak about Sarayaku resistance to oil companies that she claims are encroaching on their territories with the support of the Ecuadorian government.

Nemo Andy Guíquita, Director of Women and Health for the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE), will discuss oil drilling in Yasuní National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon, a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

A spokesperson for Amazon Watch criticised JPMorgan Chase for its continued financing of fossil fuels.

They said: “last month, JPMorgan Chase joined the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a component of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ).

“As part of its “net zero” commitments, JPMorgan Chase has pledged to reduce operational carbon intensity by 35% by 2030 and to reduce end-use carbon intensity by 15%.

“Yet it continues to pour billions of dollars into fossil fuel projects that are directly impacting Indigenous territories across the world, from the Wet’suwet’en in North America to the Sarayaku and Waorani in the South American Amazon.”