On 29 May and 3 June 2014, Market Forces, in conjunction with 350.org and the Australia Institute, ran forums in Sydney and Melbourne to release a new report examining how individuals can make their personal finances fossil free. A summary of the report's main...
What I did on my “holiday”: European banks won’t fund Abbot Point
27 May 2014 I’m on my way back to Australia and taking stock after a whirlwind tour of France, Germany and the UK, where three major banks were targeted and called on to not fund the Abbot Point coal port expansion in the Great Barrier Reef. I can’t deny that the last...
Deutsche Bank rules out financing Abbot Point coal port expansion
22 May 2014 Deutsche Bank made an important commitment at their annual general meeting that could help us keep many more banks from financing the expansion of coal exports in Australia. Deutsche Bank’s Chairman agreed that the bank would not consider any request to...
Keeping Euros out of dirty coal in Australia
5 May 2014 If we’re going to stop new dirty coal projects getting funded, we need to work both in Australia and internationally. Market Forces is in Europe where, over the next couple of weeks, several banks that are key to new coal export projects in Australia are...
Media release: Big Four banks lose customers over fossil fuel gamble
Big Four banks lose customers over fossil fuel gamble 3rd May 2014: This weekend, hundreds of customers with Australia’s biggest banks have shut down their accounts to protest the banks’ lending to Australian coal and gas projects. Public divestment actions took place...
Why Josh left Commbank: fossil fuels
Letter from Josh Wyndham-Kidd to Commonwealth Bank: I am writing to let you know why I decided to close my account with the Commonwealth. I have been with your bank since I opened my first Dollarmites savings account in early primary school. I remember the excitement...
Westpac customers divest!
8 March 2014 At city branches in Melbourne and Sydney today, dozens of Westpac customers turned out to close their accounts in protest over Westpac's multi-billion dollar support of the fossil fuel industry. Since 2008, Westpac has loaned close to $3 billion to the...
Want to win a sustainability award? Fund climate change.
24 January 2014 Last year it was ANZ being named "best in class" in the Dow Jones Sustainably Index's banking sector. Then, overnight, Westpac claimed the title of the "world's most sustainable firm" at the World Economic Forum in Davos. It's hard to know where to...
Protestors take ANZ’s AGM by storm, highlighting fossil fuel investment risks
BRISBANE, 18 DECEMBER 2013: Shareholders and bank executives will be left in no doubt about the bank’s position as number one financer of coal mines in Australia and its position as the world’s 19th largest climate offender as they made their way into the bank’s AGM...
ANZ’s AGM to remember
18 December 2013 Fossil fuels were top of the agenda at ANZ's annual general meeting today, to the point where Chairman John Morschel shut down shareholders trying to raise concerns over environmental, reputation and economic risks resulting from ANZ's investments in...