Here in New Zealand, Westpac have been bankrolling new coal mining projects in the Denniston Plateau at the same time as the company claims to be “committed to helping New Zealand transition to a low carbon economy.”
It’s not a pleasant feeling, learning that your bank – the custodian of your money – is lending billions of dollars to projects that damage the environment and drive climate change. But the good news is that, by working together, we can change this.
By withdrawing our money, or “divesting”, from the banks that are funding carbon pollution, we are removing the social license of companies that pollute our atmosphere and block political action on climate change. Instead, we can choose to move our money to banks that are 100% fossil fuel free, or at least free of the 200 largest fossil fuel companies on the planet.
Write to Wespac CEO, David McLean, and let him know that you are putting Westpac on notice.