JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon: Time to Walk the Talk on Coal

This post is co-written by Mark Kresowik, Corporate Responsibility Representative for the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon professes profound concern for our future.  He has made numerous statements about how his company supports strong action on global warming. He waxes eloquently about how JP Morgan Chase is committed to investments in clean energy and he wants policy makers to provide leadership on curbing emissions of global warming.   

But Sierra Club’s diligent researchers have pulled back the curtain and uncovered that his rhetoric doesn’t match his company’s action.  JPMorgan Chase is pouring billions of dollars into dirty coal plant projects - projects that would dramatically increase global warming pollution and ensure runaway global warming.

At the same time, JPMorgan Chase is the big money financing the most egregious mining companies engaging in the most egregious mining practices. Specifically, JPMorgan Chase is financing Massey Energy and three of the four largest mountaintop removal coal mining companies in America.  Mountaintop removal coal mining involves blowing up the country’s oldest mountain range in Appalachia, leaving a desolate and polluted landscape.  More than 500 mountains have already been leveled and more than 2,000 miles of streams buried.

With such promises about global warming and being a good energy steward – why is JPMorgan Chase financing massive new dirty coal plants in Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina and South Dakota?

To help expose the disconnect between Jamie Dimon’s words and actions, we are launching a public education campaign to ask him to walk the talk.  We are delighted to be joined in this effort with our partners at Rainforest Action Network, the Waterkeeper Alliance, and the New York Public Interest Research Group. 

If you are outraged that one of America’s leading banks is betting on dirty coal, please take a minute to watch this short video our ever creative team put together.  It grabs clips of Mr. Dimon’s statements on clean energy and contrasts that with the dirty coal companies they are financing. 

Then please take a minute to click on this link and send an email to CEO Jamie Dimon urging him to kick the dirty coal habit.