RI climate activists want to end fossil fuel investments - WPRI.com

RI climate activists want to end fossil fuel investments | WPRI.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Climate Action Rhode Island(CARI) is holding a news conference Tuesday morning to announce a new campaign to encourage de-investing from the fossil fuel industry.

This comes after the United Nations released its new climate change report.

“Humanity is on thin ice — and that ice is melting fast,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “Our world needs climate action on all fronts — everything, everywhere, all at once.”

CARI says Rhode Island is warming faster than the rest of New England and they are calling on the state’s 39 cities and towns and its 100 largest nonprofits to “decarbonize their banking and investments.”

The organization says they are developing a report card on the extent of fossil fuel investment and banking among those entities.

“Humans are responsible for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years. The rate of temperature rise in the last half-century is the highest in 2,000 years. Concentrations of carbon dioxide are at their highest in at least two million years,” Guterres said.

After the press conference at Providence City Hall, CARI says there will be a “March to Stop Funding Fossil Fuels” to JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo — three of the biggest funders of the fossil fuel industry.