Rick Alexander’s Post

NEW STUDY by Friends of the Earth U.S.: U.S. bank financing to corporations involved in industrial livestock production 🐖 🐄 🐓 🐂 has significant #climate impacts: Bank of America Citi JPMorgan Chase Commercial Banking financed and facilitated 63.1 million metric tons of CO2e in 2022 via their lending and underwriting to #meat, #dairy, #animalfeed corporations. This equals CO2e emitted by 14M cars driven in one year (the same number of cars registered in California). See the full report 👉 https://lnkd.in/eZQuESsy

Today, 105 civil society organizations from around the world are urging major U.S. banks to halt their financing of industrial livestock production. An open letter was delivered to financial leaders, including Bank of America, Citi, and JPMorganChase, stressing the critical role these institutions play in exacerbating the climate crisis by funding meat, dairy, and feed giants. The letter outlines the severe environmental impacts of industrial livestock production, including significant contributions to global warming and biodiversity loss, while also highlighting the harm inflicted on animal welfare and human rights. The organizations call for banks to recognize the industry’s high emissions, set and implement 1.5°C targets for the agriculture sector, and address the broader social and environmental harms caused by this industry. This action is part of a larger global campaign aiming to hold financial institutions accountable for their role in industrial livestock production. The time for change is now. 🌍 Learn more 👉 https://lnkd.in/eVPGc2bJ #Sustainability #ClimateAction #ResponsibleBanking

Today, 105 civil society organizations from around the world are urging major U.S. banks to halt their financing of industrial livestock production. An open letter was delivered to financial leaders including Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase, stressing the critical role these institutions play in exacerbating the climate crisis by funding meat, dairy, and feed giants. 🚨 The letter outlines the severe environmental impacts of industrial livestock production, including significant contributions to global warming and biodiversity loss, while also highlighting the harm inflicted on animal welfare and human rights. 📢 The organizations call for banks to recognize the industry’s high emissions, set and implement 1.5°C targets for the agriculture sector, and address the broader social and environmental harms caused by this industry. 🌍 This action is part of a larger global campaign aiming to hold financial institutions accountable for their role in industrial livestock production. The time for change is now. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eVPGc2bJ #Sustainability #ClimateAction #ResponsibleBanking

Shambles. USDA -- I hope you get on-farm oversight authority. It is central to any progress on the climate-front. I can't believe how brazenly Tyson Foods is getting away with this without publishing any proof. "“Because Congress did not provide USDA with on-farm oversight authority that would enable it to verify these types of labeling claims, companies must use third-party certifying organizations to substantiate these claims,” the spokesperson wrote in an email, directing Inside Climate News to the third-party verifier or Tyson for more information." "“They’re being incredibly obstinate about sharing anything right now,” said Matthew Hayek, a researcher with New York University who studies the environmental and climate impacts of the food system. “Speaking as a scientist, it’s not transparent and it’s a scandal in its own right that the government can’t provide this information.”" "This lack of transparency from the agency worries environmental and legal advocacy groups, especially now that billions of dollars in taxpayer funds are available for agricultural practices deemed to have benefits for the climate. The Biden administration’s signature climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, appropriated nearly $20 billion for these practices; another $3.1 billion is available through a Biden-era program called the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities. “This is an important test case for USDA,” Faber said. “If they can’t say no to a clearly misleading climate claim like ‘climate friendly’ beef, why should they be trusted to say no to other misleading climate claims? There’s a lot of money at stake.”" "Last year, the Center for Biological Diversity submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the USDA, asking for details about funding to support “low carbon” beef. The agency’s response was heavily redacted and the Center is now appealing." ^^^What??? "Silvia Secchi, a natural resource economist at the University of Iowa and outspoken critic of U.S. agricultural policy, said the environmental groups, universities and corporations taking money from the USDA for climate-focused efforts should all be subject to the same rules. “USDA should have a transparent methodology that’s applicable to everyone—the outsourcing, the monitoring, the verification—for all these groups that have incentives to make things look better than they are,” Secchi said. “There’s no transparency. How are they actually going to verify that farmers are reducing nitrogen? Are they getting GPS coordinates for tractors every day of the year? I think it’s complete bullshit. They’re only looking at select indicators, not the whole system.”" https://lnkd.in/eQkuHEUE

❓ Are banks overlooking a significant climate threat? Major U.S. banks like Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase contribute to greenhouse gas emissions through their financing of industrial livestock production. The newly released report "Bull in the Climate Shop" by Friends of the Earth U.S. and Profundo reveals that these banks' lending to meat, dairy, and feed corporations represents only a small fraction of their portfolios but significantly impacts their emissions. 🔍 Some key findings from the report are: 💰 Between 2016 and 2023, the Big Three banks provided $74 billion in loans and underwriting to industrial livestock corporations. 💨 This financing, while a minor part of their total portfolios, contributes to 11% of their financed emissions. 🐄 Industrial livestock production is a major source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, accounting for 70.3% of the banks' meat and dairy-related emissions when using a GWP20 basis. 💡 There is an urgent need for banks to address the climate impacts of their financing activities, particularly in the high-emitting industrial livestock sector. The report calls for immediate action, including halting new financing for these corporations and requiring robust emissions reduction targets. Animal agriculture is an inefficient system that would not be able to survive without the funding and subsidies from big banks and government. It’s time we move away from this inefficient food system and move towards protein diversification that is better for the planet and people. 🌎 Read more about the critical steps banks must take to meet their climate commitments and align with global net-zero goals. A link to the full report is in the comments. #ClimateChange #SustainableFinance #IndustrialLivestock #Sustainability 

❓ Are banks overlooking a significant climate threat? Major U.S. banks like Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase contribute to greenhouse gas emissions through their financing of industrial livestock production. The newly released report "Bull in the Climate Shop" by Friends of the Earth U.S. and Profundo reveals that these banks' lending to meat, dairy, and feed corporations represents only a small fraction of their portfolios but significantly impacts their emissions. 🔍 Some key findings from the report are: 💰 Between 2016 and 2023, the Big Three banks provided $74 billion in loans and underwriting to industrial livestock corporations. 💨 This financing, while a minor part of their total portfolios, contributes to 11% of their financed emissions. 🐄 Industrial livestock production is a major source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, accounting for 70.3% of the banks' meat and dairy-related emissions when using a GWP20 basis. 💡 There is an urgent need for banks to address the climate impacts of their financing activities, particularly in the high-emitting industrial livestock sector. The report calls for immediate action, including halting new financing for these corporations and requiring robust emissions reduction targets. Animal agriculture is an inefficient system that would not be able to survive without the funding and subsidies from big banks and government. It’s time we move away from this inefficient food system and move towards protein diversification that is better for the planet and people. 🌎 Read more about the critical steps banks must take to meet their climate commitments and align with global net-zero goals. A link to the full report is in the comments. #ClimateChange #SustainableFinance #IndustrialLivestock #Sustainability 

👨🏻🌾📉✅ Food and agriculture organizations working to reduce #emissions and meet goals set by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) may find themselves struggling with complexities inherent to the industry and wondering where to place their priorities, energy, and investment — which is why we've collaborated with the Environmental Defense Fund and EDF + Business to create a framework for action focused on 6️⃣ key #commodities: 🐄 Beef 🥛 Dairy 🐓 Chicken 🌽 Corn 🫛 Soy 🌾 Wheat Read on, and learn how to act, advocate, and advance solutions for each commodity: https://lnkd.in/g4kW-JCP

Changing Markets Foundation and 105 NGOs have signed an open letter urging major banks to withdraw their financial support from the livestock sector, which significantly contributes to climate change and environmental degradation. Banks, including the Big Three – Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase – have provided a staggering $134 billion in financing to meat, dairy, and animal feed companies from 2016 to 2023. This support fuels an industry responsible for up to 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 🌍🔥 The climate footprint of top livestock companies exceeds that of entire countries such as Japan. Meat and dairy production alone accounts for 57% of the food system’s emissions and is projected to use 80% of our carbon budget by 2050. Changing Markets Foundation's 'Hot Money' report focuses on 20 financial institutions funding the methane-generating activities of leading meat and dairy companies worldwide. 🔎 You can read more here: https://lnkd.in/e9NqGwz3 Not only are they at odds with the Global Methane Pledge signed by their home countries, but the financial institutions do not disclose the methane emissions their funding supports. It’s time for banks to stop financing practices that harm our planet and instead support sustainable solutions. 💪 https://lnkd.in/ehT-SAVe #Sustainability #ClimateAction #ResponsibleBanking

❓ How much does investing in animal agriculture increase your emissions footprint? 💰 An analysis by Friends of the Earth U.S. and Profundo found that the Big Three banks’ lending to the meat, dairy, animal feed, food processing, and agri-commodity corporations represent just 0.25% of the banks’ total loans outstanding but roughly 11% of their reported financed emissions. 💨 This means the emissions footprint of financing to these companies is 44x greater than its proportion of the banks lending portfolios. 🌎 For the Big Three, curtailing support for meat, dairy and feed corporations would affect a tiny fraction of the banks’ lending portfolios but would result in significant reductions in their financed emissions and enable progress towards their climate commitments. So why are we doing this when it doesn’t benefit their shareholders? 🌱 We must move funding away from the animal agriculture industry, and towards a food system that is more efficient and better for the environment such as diversified proteins. More information is in the report linked in the comments. #diversifiedproteins #foodsystemstransformation #emissions

🎉Big news!🎉Feedback have joined with 100+ organisations to call on banks to stop financing industrial livestock companies. According to Feedback's research, banks and financiers have provided $615 billion in credit to the world's largest 55 livestock producers since the Paris Agreement. The letter was signed by orgs including Friends of the Earth, Feedback Global, Changing Markets Foundation, ProVeg International, BankTrack and Greenpeace. I was quoted for the press release, saying: “Alarmingly, our analysis shows that funding to these polluting companies is on the rise, despite scientists’ warnings that global livestock emissions need to start declining sharply. Industrial livestock companies are incompatible with a safe future for our planet, so it is time for banks and investors to turn off the taps and stop providing the finance that is enabling them to grow.” The letter has been delivered to some of the world's biggest financiers of big livestock, like Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase. Read the letter: https://lnkd.in/ed9nYhPE Read Feedback's report 'Still Butchering the Planet' (international focus): https://lnkd.in/eyArn_dA Read FOE US's report 'Bull in the Climate Shop' (US bank focus): https://lnkd.in/ey42a7hp #food #meat #plantbased #lessandbettermeat #climatechange #climatecrisis #biglivestock #defundbiglivestock