To the CEOs of Equinor, Total, Deutsche Bank, and BNP Paribas,

I am writing in support of the call to action by the Mapuche people and demanding that you cease all fossil fuel extraction and all financial support for fracking in Vaca Muerta.

Fracking is devastating, and it is banned in many European countries, as well as states and municipalities in the U.S. and Latin America^[1]. Fracking is having catastrophic consequences for communities living in this region of Patagonia, and yet corporations like yours are funding and actively profiting off fracking at the communities' expense.

Families are suffering from chronic health issues like asthma and cancer and living in constant fear of earthquakes. Indigenous Mapuche people are having their ancestral land stolen and decimated by wells, pipelines, and heavy machinery^[2]. Fracking companies are dumping toxic waste close to homes and farmland, damaging people’s health and poisoning water supplies^[3].

The latest UN climate report stated that we cannot build any new oil and gas projects if we hope to keep global heating to 1.5 degrees. The oil and gas locked deep underground there could release 50 billion tons of CO2 into our atmosphere, pushing the earth further towards climate breakdown^[4].

Please cease your financial support and fracking activities in Vaca Muerta. Instead, we call on you to fund the just transition to clean, safe, renewable energy, which will bring real development to people and communities.

Thank you.

References
[1]: https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/megaproject.pdf

[2]: https://gogel.org/vaca-muerta

[3]: https://www.banktrack.org/project/vaca_muerta#impacts

[4]: https://opsur.org.ar/2018/02/05/vaca-muerta-megaproject-a-fracking-carbon-bomb-in-patagonia/