Opinion

Attacking climate change one bank at a time—starting with Chase

It’s time to stop the biggest lenders to the fossil fuel industry.

We are at a strange and awful moment in our planet’s history. We watch as vast fires consume whole swaths of the Australian continent, killing animals by the billion. We watch as temperatures keep climbing: January was the warmest January ever measured, and February saw the highest temperature ever recorded on the Antarctic continent, with the mercury at one research station soaring to 65 degrees. We watch as people driven from their homes by drought pile up against the fences erected at national borders.

We don’t just watch, of course—many also act.

People have bought electric cars and learned to bike; people have insulated their houses and put solar panels on their roofs; people have learned to eat lower on the food chain. It all matters—and yet even as we do it we sense we’re past the point where we can solve this crisis one Tesla at a time.