Greenpeace Australia Pacific protest at Commenwealth Bank

see also forum thread at http://www.unleashed.org.au/community/forum/topic.php?t=12452

Boycott the bank and don't deal with them - that's the best thing to do. Then put pressure on your MP or poiltical party to change regulations.

Yep, tell 'em they're doing wrong! Tell them you're boycotting them and telling all your friends and family memebers to do the same.
Send it to Ian Narev, CEO and Managing Director and a copy to Catherine Livingstone, Chairman. An actual old fashioned letter with a stamp on, from a potential customer. gets attention.

From Greenpeace Australia Pacific -
My heart sank when I heard the news today: new aerial surveys have found that two-thirds of our Great Barrier Reef has been hit by severe coral bleaching - for the second year in a row.

Scientists are in despair. Back-to-back mass bleaching is unprecedented, and leaves little time for corals to recover. This year, the bleaching has spread further south. One Reef scientist has said the Reef is now in ‘terminal stage’. But we know what’s causing it: rising ocean temperatures, caused by global warming, caused by rising carbon emissions. And we know how to fix it: stop burning fossil fuels, like coal.

Right now we have a real chance to turn this story around. Fossil fuel projects that are killing our natural wonder can’t survive without funding, and the biggest funder in Australia in the last year - the Commonwealth Bank - just announced last week it is reviewing its fossil fuel funding in response to climate change.

It’s part of a “detailed climate policy review” that will land in the lap of the CommBank Board for approval in coming months. Incredibly, the banking regulator has warned that climate change could be a material risk to the financial system, and companies should adapt. [2] This is our best chance to secure a commitment from CommBank to end coal funding for good. When that climate plan lands on their desks, we need to make sure they know hundreds of thousands of us are watching.

Can you help ramp up the pressure by printing, signing and posting this letter to CommBank CEO Ian Narev?  (see   https://www.e-activist.com/ea-action/broadcast.record.message.click.do?ea.url.id=898596 )

Together we’ve pressured the bank online and in person, and now it’s time to hit their mailbox. If thousands of people send this letter via snail mail to Ian Narev, it’ll be hard to ignore. We’ve spoken to CommBank staff who are concerned about the bank’s funding of coal, and if they receive thousands of letters, they can send the message up the chain.

The Reef and its corals, tropical fish, turtles, manta rays and other incredible wildlife need us more than ever. That’s why we need to cut off the funding for projects that are hurting it right now.

With hope and determination,

Jacki, Susannah, Max, Nat and the team at Greenpeace Australia Pacific

(get an old fashioned envelope and stamp, print out the docx file at https://www.e-activist.com/ea-action/broadcast.record.message.click.do?ea.url.id=898596
sign it and send it off! )

If you don't want to click on the link here is the letter - just copy and paste into Word, wordpad or whatever text program you have -

Ian Narev
Commonwealth Bank
Tower 1, 201 Sussex St
Sydney NSW 2000

Dear Mr. Narev,

I am writing to you today about the Commonwealth Bank’s lending to the fossil fuel industry.

Your new marketing campaign says ‘the world needs a new way forward’.  I agree. Yet despite your bank’s agreement to help keep global warming below two degrees, in line with the Paris climate agreement, CommBank has been the largest Australian financier of fossil fuel projects since the agreement was struck.

Fossil fuels are not a new way forward. Coal, in particular, is a fuel from the past. The future needs clean energy.

Your bank’s lending practices contradict your statements about the need to take action on climate change. This is indefensible. The world is already watching as Pacific Island nations and other vulnerable regions are affected by sea level rise – directly caused by global warming. In Australia we are seeing more coral bleaching, heatwaves, severe storms, and bushfires than at any time in recorded history. The Great Barrier Reef is bleaching for the second year in a row. Last year 22 per cent of the Reef’s coral died. This is unprecedented and, if we keep burning fossil fuels, it will only get worse.

Climate change is a challenge we must face together. I do not believe CommBank is holding up its end of the deal.  If it does not immediately say no to funding new coal projects and agree to a plan to phase out its lending to fossil fuels, I will personally encourage my friends, family and colleagues to reconsider banking with CommBank.

The technology to create a cleaner and sustainable world already exists. As an industry leader, CommBank can take a prominent role in making sure the world picks a real new way forward.

I trust you will take my concerns into consideration when deciding future investment strategies.


Sincerely,
{Your name}