CLIMATE protesters were joined by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a demonstration outside JP Morgan in London this morning to demand that the bank end its fossil fuel funding.
The protesters blocked the bank’s entrance by sitting on the pavement chanting: “Oily money out” and waving yellow flags and banners.
Among the demonstrators were more than 60 health professionals, who staged a “die-in” and “climate inquest” outside the building.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Juliette Brown, who took part in the action, said: “Governments and companies that continue to finance and licence new coal, oil and gas are doing so at the expense of their citizens.
“Fossil fuels are the drivers of deadly climate change and air pollution in our communities.
“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.”
Dr Jethro Purkis, from Bristol, said: “During the August heatwave of 2022, my father suffered a heart attack and died the following week.
“He had chronic physical health problems and, like many of the most vulnerable in our society, could not manage the extreme heat that climate change is bringing to us.
“This is not a problem of the future. It is a health catastrophe that we are living through right now.”
Fossil Free London organiser Karolina, who did not give a surname, said: “London is one of the world’s carbon capitals and JP Morgan is consistently one of the worst offenders.
“A net-zero target for 2050 is meaningless if today you are pouring money into new dirty fossil fuels. Their profit is our loss.”
The protesters then moved on to target Barclays Bank’s Canary Wharf office.
Fossil Free London said that each of the banks has been a major source of funding for fossil fuel projects since the Paris Agreement of 2015, in which governments agreed to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.
Joanna Warrington of Fossil Free London said: “Barclays takes people’s savings and pours them into new oil and gas that will destabilise the world.
“They are reaping huge profits from unaffordable energy bills. Fossil fuel giants couldn’t do it without the support of the banks. We must make these polluters pay.”
On Tuesday, Ms Thunberg and 25 others were arrested for protesting outside a meeting of oil and gas executives in central London, before being freed on bail.
