SYDNEY, Feb 4 2020 – Greenpeace supporters gathered at the Frankfurt headquarters of global investment firm BlackRock overnight, calling on the company to stop financing climate change through its coal investments.BlackRock is the majority shareholder in Siemens, which is providing rail signalling infrastructure for Adani’s climate-destroying Carmichael coal mine in Northern Queensland. [1]
“Australia’s coal-fired bushfires are still raging. Koalas are burning alive, fires threaten families all over the country, and our capital city is choking on toxic smoke, and yet companies like BlackRock and Siemens continue to support fossil fuels by aiding projects like Adani’s Carmichael coal mine,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO, David Ritter said.
“Unless BlackRock wants to be remembered as the company that stoked the bushfire crisis, it must lead by example and fix its own portfolio, and demand Siemens Energy withdraws infrastructure support for not only the catastrophic Adani coal mine but all fossil fuels completely.”
Just days ahead of Siemens’ AGM in Munich, crowds hoisted banners on cranes at BlackRock’s German headquarters in Frankfurt, reading: “BlackRock: Your assets are on fire!” Greenpeace is calling on BlackRock to demand the Siemens Board of Directors stop supporting infrastructure projects attached to the controversial Adani coal mine. [2]
Siemens will provide rail signalling technology for the Adani coal mine. The contract with Adani Group was signed in December 2019, at the same time bushfires were causing death and destruction across News South Wales and Queensland.
If completed, the Carmichael mine would be one of the largest in the world and is estimated to emit an additional 78 million tonnes of CO2 annually.[3]
According to research by The Guardian, BlackRock currently holds stocks and bonds worth over US$87 billion in coal, oil and gas companies and is the world’s largest investor in coal projects.[4]
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink recently wrote a letter to management and supervisory boards asking companies to be more sustainable, announcing that future investments will be linked to climate protection criteria.[5]
Photo and video:
Images from the demonstration available here
https://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJ8ST5KL
Notes:
[1] Global Investment firm BlackRock holds 5 percent of Siemens shares.
[2] Siemens’ Annual General Meeting will take place in Munich on Wednesday, where shareholders will vote, among other things, on the discharge of their Executive Board.
[3] http://envlaw.com.au/wp-content/uploads/carmichael14.pdf
[5] https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/investor-relations/larry-fink-ceo-letter
Contacts:
Greenpeace Australia Pacific Communications Campaigner, Martin Zavan: 0424 295 422, [email protected]
Greenpeace Germany Media Officer, Sonka Terfehr, +49 175 589 1718, [email protected]
Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), [email protected]