Hey CommBank, we’re here. Please stop funding dirty coal.  

14 March 2017

Early this morning I joined a group of amazing volunteers who headed to the CommBank headquarters in Sydney with a message for the bank: stop funding new coal projects. You can speak up too by signing the petition to the CEO Ian Narev here.

© Brett Monroe Garner / Greenpe

CommBank loaned more money to dirty fossil fuels in 2016 than any other Aussie bank. They claim to be committed to limiting global warming, but pump billions of dollars into fossil fuel projects that drive dangerous climate change and kill natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef.

We knew the Board and CEO would meet today, so we wanted to send our message up to them. We talked to hundreds of staff on their way to work to let them know their Board and CEO have a choice to invest in the future, not the past.

Screenshot 2017-03-14 13.36.35We set up a mock polling booth, and asked them to choose what they want CommBank to invest in: a dirty coal past or a clean energy future.

Screenshot 2017-03-14 13.37.19

They could choose to walk through the ‘dirty past’ doors, or the ‘clean future’ doors. And CommBank staff made their choice clear: they want a clean future!

While CommBank staff were voting on the ground, people on Facebook were making their choice clear too in a live poll:

Screenshot 2017-03-14 13.51.27
We spoke to hundreds of CommBank staff today, but this is just a part of what needs to be done to win a commitment to no more investment in dirty coal. We need thousands of people to have thousands of conversations to really ramp up the pressure on the bank. This March people around the world are standing up to fossil fuels in a global wave of action called Break Free. You can find out more and join us at au.breakfree2017.org

Add your voice to the petition to CommBank here.


Wire 2017-03-14 at 8.45.06
Volunteers outside CommBank HQ hold a sign saying 'Honk for a clean energy future!'