Climate Activists in New York Protest Citibank and Other Backers of Big Oil

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Climate Activists in New York Protest Citibank and Other Backers of Big Oil

They slather SPF 50+ on their toddlers’ legs under scorching sun before breaking out in song. They march joyously through the canyons of the Financial District while ******** drums. The oldest among them lie down on the burning hot pavement and allow themselves to be dragged away by police.

Over the course of a blistering summer in New York, hundreds of activists have been assembling day after day to draw attention to the main thing that’s driving up global temperatures: the burning of coal, oil and gas, which produces heat-trapping gases and makes heat waves more intense and more frequent.

“Feel how hot it is,” said Leslie Stevens, 70, who joined a demonstration on Wednesday. “This is not a one-time thing. We’re going to ***** ourselves collectively.”

The protest movement calls itself Summer of Heat on Wall Street, and its main target is Citigroup, which, according to a

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by a coalition of environmental groups, is pouring the most money into new oil and gas projects worldwide.

Citi has set its own climate neutrality targets for 2050, but,

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, Citi’s investment portfolio is at odds with global goals to limit global temperature increases, according to Ceres, an advocacy group that works with businesses on their climate plans.

Banks have

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. An analysis by Bloomberg News determined that Citi was not the biggest provider of loans to oil, gas and coal, and that its lending to the fossil fuel sector has steadily declined.

The activists’ tactics have spanned a wide range, from low-octane, read-along events with toddlers to boisterous blockades and disciplined civil disobedience actions. Though big climate demonstrations had been fairly regular in New York City and elsewhere, they have taken a back seat to demonstrations against the war in Gaza.

The climate action on Wednesday was a tame, child-friendly event. Preschoolers and parents sang songs and licked red-white-and-blue Popsicles. “Give the biggest bad guy a time out,” one placard read.

“Just seeing the amount of people who have been made unalive because of the climate crisis already,” Shanika Anderson, a 41-year-old preschool teacher, said before explaining in a whisper that she was reluctant to use words like “*****” around her 4-year-old son, Sage. “We need to do something now.”

“You can’t just stay at home,” said Rachel Cole, 39, an artist from Brooklyn who came Wednesday with her husband and 2-year-old, adding that she had been kept up at night worrying about the worsening heat waves and the presidential election. “I want to ensure a livable future for my son.”

In a statement, Citi said it was “supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy through our net zero commitments and our $1 trillion sustainable finance goal.”

In a memo to employees last month, Edward Skyler, Citi’s head of enterprise services and public affairs, said the company believed “divestment would not lead to a responsible and orderly transition,” and that fossil fuels would play a critical role globally for decades, especially in emerging markets.

Not all the demonstrators’ actions have been so mild-mannered.

Two weeks ago, in late June, came a

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through the financial district. The actions in June drew activists from Texas and Louisiana, where gas terminals and petrochemical facilities are concentrated. Citi wasn’t the only target of the activists. They also took their demonstrations to the headquarters of ********* Insurance Group and Chubb because they insure liquefied natural gas projects.

“We are here to demand these insurance companies stop insuring fossil fuel projects in the Gulf Coast,” Roishetta Ozane, a community organizer from Sulphur, La., said as she marched to Chubb headquarters. “They are insuring ****** in our communities.”

Inside the lobby of Chubb’s building sat several dozen protesters, arms locked. Dozens were arrested in June there and at the offices of Citigroup.

Chubb did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this week, protesters dressed up as Costco hot dogs and blocked the entrance to Citigroup headquarters midmorning, as bank employees milled around, waiting for the police to clear the area. The activists singled out Costco because of its business dealings with Citi. Many were arrested.

The day before, a group of older activists with the group Third Act staged a more solemn tableau. First, they marched slowly around the building, wearing burlap sacks labeled with climate hazards: “heat waves,” “bleached corals,” “ocean acidification.”

A bagpiper played, which, as Bill McKibben, a Third Act co-founder, pointed out in his newsletter, is often done at funerals. “Here we were trying to bear in mind those anonymous millions who have already ***** from heat wave, flood, *****, and climate borne-********,” he wrote. “When, turning the last corner on to Greenwich Street, he began to play Amazing Grace, I teared right up.”

The activists lay down on the pavement in front of the door, effectively blockading it. Mr. McKibben and 45 others were arrested, protest organizers said.

In the last five weeks, since the Summer of Heat protests began, 305 have been arrested, according to organizers. More actions are scheduled over the course of the next month.

Ann Scott, 65, was among the dozens of Third Act members who came to witness. She returned on Wednesday for the more staid protests. “This is urgent,” she said. “We can’t wait for other people to do this.”

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#Climate #Activists #York #Protest #Citibank #Backers #Big #Oil

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