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Ask Citi to Stop Funding New Coal-Fired Power Plants
Help us flood Citi with calls! Today we need your help to fight Citi's funding of these new plants. Here's what we need you to do:
Want to know more about Citi's plans? Click here.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] , Dear RAN, I've made a phone call to Michael Klein of Citi in New York and hope that the combined effort of activists around the world will show Citi that new coal fired power plants is unacceptable. I sincerely hope and believe Citi is capable of making the right choice. Thank You,
Signed by: |
Campaign Launched: |
| Background Information |
Getting Citi to stop funding new coal-fired power plants Two weeks ago, Citi, the world's biggest bank, pledged to counter global warming by investing $3.1 billion annually over the next ten years in renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy infrastructure. But how much good will it do for Citi to spend billions of dollars fighting global warming when it is spending billions MORE on greenhouse gas-spewing projects that are the root of the problem?
Here's how Citi is continuing to fund dirty energy and worsen global warming:
- Right now, Citi is financing companies proposing coal-fired power plants in Iowa and Florida. These plants are part of a U.S. coal power expansion strategy that will develop up to 150 new coal-fired power plants in the U.S. over the next 15 years. Using outdated technology, these plants will emit more than 600 million tons of CO2 per year - more than the annual energy emissions of 95 percent of the world's countries!
- In early April, Citi amended a financial agreement with Dynegy - the power and utilities company sponsoring the largest build-out of new coal power plants in the U.S. - that will bring its total financial support to $1.8 billion for a proposal to build 12 coal-fired plants that will emit an estimated 53.3 million tons of C02 annually. This week, Dynegy-owned LS Power plans to apply for permits to build a 750MW coal-fired power plant just east of Waterloo, Iowa. This plant will spew carbon emissions equivalent to nearly a million new cars on Iowa's roads over its 40-50 year lifetime and pollute eastern Iowa's waters with heavy metals. Iowans are in a desperate fight to stop it.
- In March 2007, Citi provided Florida Power & Light with $2.5 billion in financing. FPL is planning to build four new coal-fired power plants in Florida. Located in the heart of Florida's fragile Everglades ecosystem, the Glades County plant would emit 16 million tons of climate-changing carbon dioxide, making it the largest single source of global warming pollution in the state. This plant is waiting on a recommendation from the Florida Utilities Commission.
More about the first two plants...
- In Florida's Everglades: In March 2007, Citi provided Florida Power & Light with $2.5 billion in financing. FPL is planning to build four new coal-fired power plants in Florida. Located in the heart of the fragile Everglades ecosystem, the Glades County plant would emit 16 million tons of climate-changing carbon dioxide, making it the largest single source of global warming pollution in the state. This plant is waiting on a recommendation from the Florida Utilities Commission. Learn more at Save It Now, Glades!
- In Iowa: In early April, Citi amended a financial agreement with Dynegy - the power and utilities company sponsoring the largest build-out of new coal power plants in the U.S. - that will bring its total financial support to $1.8 billion for a company proposing to build 12 coal-fired plants that will emit an estimated 53.3 million tons of C02 annually. This week, Dynegy-owned LS Power plans to apply for permits to build a 750MW coal-fired power plant just east of Waterloo, Iowa. This plant will spew carbon emissions equivalent to nearly a million new cars on Iowa's roads over its 40-50 year lifetime and pollute eastern Iowa's waters with heavy metals. Iowans are in a desperate fight to stop it.
How and why RAN is fighting the funding of dirty energy
- Rainforest Action Network is calling on private banks around the world to reject requests for funding any of the proposed 159 new coal-fired power plants in the US.
- The outdated pulverized coal-fired technology being utilized is widely recognized by regulators and scientists as the highest greenhouse gas-polluting source of electricity.
- If completed, the plants will result in hundreds of millions of tons of new carbon dioxide emissions per year, more than the total emissions of many countries.
- These projects will have massive implications for the local and global environment and lock in a new generation of antiquated, polluting technology for decades to come.
- RAN has taken out an ad in the New York Times alerting banks around the world that they need to withhold financing for dirty coal projects, including Wall Street's biggest financiers of coal: Citigroup, Bank of America, Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.
- Stopping new coal is a global responsibility, and we need the global financial industry to show real leadership and vision. We need a clean and secure energy future, and we need the world's largest banks to invest in getting us there.
- The outdated pulverized coal-fired technology being utilized is widely recognized by regulators and scientists as the highest greenhouse gas-polluting source of electricity.
- No coal is good coal
- Coal power is inefficient, unsustainable and environmentally destructive from the point of extraction to the power plant.
- Pulverized coal is one of the dirtiest and most greenhouse-gas intensive energy options.
- Virtually all of the plants under the Bush Energy Plan have no plans for capturing CO2 emissions.
- Coal power is inefficient, unsustainable and environmentally destructive from the point of extraction to the power plant.
- Banks need to invest in a clean, sustainable future:
- In the 21st Century, banks should be shifting their resources away from dangerous energy sources such as coal and nuclear and focusing on clean sources such as wind and solar and improved energy use efficiency.
- Arranging and advisory banks involved in the dirty coal projects should develop an exit strategy and withdraw their support.
- Other banks that are invited to finance the project should decline support for this ill-advised investment.
- To help minimize and avoid climate risks, all banks should set GHG reduction targets that cover not only their operations, but also their financial services; including arranging and advisory relationships, investments, investment banking, underwriting and lending.
- Banks should develop policies and programs that prefigure the strictest global climate regulation targets consistent with scientific recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and help their clients move quickly to adapt to a carbon-constrained economy
- In the 21st Century, banks should be shifting their resources away from dangerous energy sources such as coal and nuclear and focusing on clean sources such as wind and solar and improved energy use efficiency.
For all these reasons and more, Rainforest Action Network is fighting Citi’s financing of these new plants. To learn more, visit our website www.dirtymoney.org, to join the fight and participate in our call-in day to Citi now!
