The ever-increasing insistence on intermingling finance and environmentalism is taking a chilling turn, with a new report suggesting government regulation of the financial sector in order to steer funding away from fossil fuels. Greenpeace Canada recently released a report titled “What to do about Canadian Banks ‘Quiet Quitting’ their Climate Commitments,” emphasizing that there is an “urgent need for governments to step in and regulate the financial sector.”
20.4 percent of funding from the 60 largest banks in the world directed towards fossil fuels in 2022 came from the five biggest Canadian banks. This figure has seen a sharp increase from 13.8 percent in 2016. The Greenpeace report appears to be leveraging this statistic as ammunition to justify their radical advocacy for financial sector regulation. As Keith Stewart, Senior energy strategist at Greenpeace Canada, explained:
“The fossil fuel industry has left government regulation as the only viable path forward.”
https://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/press-release/59536/attack-on-esg-highlights-need-to-regulate-banks-on-climate-finance-report/
Banks find themselves at the center of an escalating tug of war between fossil fuel interests and climate-centric organizations like Greenpeace. On one side, fossil fuel companies and their allies have mounted a counter-offensive against environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives that directly affect their financial resources. On the other side, organizations like Greenpeace argue that government intervention and regulation are now necessary to ensure banks adhere to ESG initiatives.
But this leaves us with a disturbing question: should the government have the power to dictate where and how banks direct their investments based on environmental criteria? And if so, where does this regulatory power stop? It’s a slippery slope towards control of all financial transactions under the guise of ‘environmental justice.’ This prospect smells alarmingly like eco-fascism, where state power is employed to enforce rigid environmental standards and regulations.
This report also points to a “new political momentum for regulation,” with 70% of Canadians supporting regulation according to “their polling”. Even elected officials seem to be warming up to the idea. Liberal, NDP, Bloc, and Green MPs have supported a new motion calling on the federal government to use “all legislative and regulatory tools at its disposal to align Canada’s financial system with the Paris Agreement.” This sounds less like democracy and more like a power grab using the cloak of environmental protection as its shield.
To quote Stewart again:
“Since bankers can’t, or won’t, act on their own, it is time for our elected officials to finally lay down the law and regulate banks so they are part of the climate solution rather than an ever-greater part of the problem.”
https://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/press-release/59536/attack-on-esg-highlights-need-to-regulate-banks-on-climate-finance-report/
But the essence of a free market is to allow organizations to act independently within the confines of the law. Isn’t the power of consumers choosing to invest their money where they want a fundamental right?
It’s bad enough to encourage financial institutions to consider the environment in their funding decisions. It’s another thing entirely to call upon governments to legislate and regulate such decisions. If we’re not careful, we may be trading the freedom of financial decision-making for a regime that exercises control over our economic activity all in the name of ‘saving the planet.’
Charles Rotter is @crotter8 on Twitter
HT/Michel L
Having nominally “private” businesses that are totally controlled by the government is one definition of a fascist state. While some greens would go full Leninist, that level of socialism is sufficient for quite a lot of central planning, a characteristic of socialism in general.
This is perhaps the core of fascism.
It’s all part of the Green Leap Forward.
“Banks find themselves at the center of an escalating tug of war between fossil fuel interests and climate-centric organizations like Greenpeace. “
Greenpeace need not worry about its finances, they’re pretty cast iron as things stand.
Just like the shock-troop drag queens (story hour etc), banks are another means to impose a certain point of view, like it or not. After all, does imposition not mean the laying on of something as a burden, an obligation or even both?
“should the government have the power to….”
When push comes to shove, despite the open borders policies etc, governments can take whatever powers they like.
How far does this have to go before everyone realizes we ALL need FF? I guess there needs to be a big and painful reckoning first.
FF means exactly what?
Fairy Farts, obviously!
Fossil fuels.
Foiled Fannies
just a shame that the the energy industry can’t just shut down for a few days or weeks just to let these idiots know what their life would be like without it – and it’s not pretty
Well if the FF industry doesn’t go on strike and shut things down then the governments and eco-nazis will do it for them through idiot laws and regulations.
Same result – mass starvation and poverty, the elite getting richer, middle class converted to serfs, and if the serfs don’t like it there’s a mob of transgender welfare recipients to impose conformity and order.
“70% of Canadians supporting regulation”
Why Canadians are horrified of a slight warming escapes me. 🙂
Probably because they don’t
Canadians have been drifting leftward for six decades, sometimes rapidly as in the former Trudeau years, and now most of the population, by the figures of David Solway, are ripe for a sort of left-feudal system. They seem utterly unable to even rid themselves of a phony, unaccomplished liar of a prime minister who is loved only by a minority.
A significant portion of the population outside of Ontario and Quebec are not lefties, British Columbia excepted, by any stretch of the imagination, try not to tar all Canadians with the same brush.
“70% of Canadians supporting regulation”
This is what happens when you let schools dictate what children are taught.
Well, this Canadian doesn’t, Greenpeace pulled that number out of their fundament or, in the alternative, only polled their adherents.
Ecofascists paying for the survey can get any answer they want.
exactly- I’ve seen that in my field of forest management- where professors publish a survey of forest landowners, what they are interested in regarding forestry- total bullshit- I’ve been working with forest owners here in Woke-achusetts for 50 years and have spoken to hundreds- I inform the professors that they’ve got it wrong- but they won’t listen, after all, I don’t have a PhD, so I must be wrong
I should think that the fossil fuel industries are big enough that they can establish their own banks, if they haven’t already.
The government will just increase the punitive regulations.
The banks in question have effectively been told that their license to bank in Texas depends on their financing of the oil industry here in Texas. And yes, there are oil interests that are looking at establishing their own banks to finance the oil industry. Also, said banks need to explain their ESG stance to continue doing business here. State pension funds have been directed to move pension funds away from said banks.
Good for Texas! You know, Texas has a rather bad reputation here in Woke-achusetts- but I saw a video recently discussing how rapidly Texas is developing its economy and how people are flocking there from CA, NY and other woke areas. Probably not many yet from Woke-achusetts. If I could afford to move, I would consider it too.
“This prospect smells alarmingly like eco-fascism, where state power is
employed to enforce rigid environmental standards and regulations.”
_____________________________________________________________
It won’t stop at merely “environmental standards”
It’s a slippery slope towards control of all financial transactions under the guise of ‘environmental justice.’ I think that quote from Mr. Rotter’s essay covers it.
July 1st Biden starts implementing the digital dollar transition. All financial transactions will be under scrutiny.
So Greenpeace is being ignored as the ESG initiatives fail to take hold, banks fund fossil fuels and people just aren’t listening to what they’re saying? And their default, go-to solution for this is that everyone must be made to listen to them, forced to by Government coercion. How is it that Greenpeace can still get away with this, that everyone hasn’t seen through their eco-friendly facade to the dark and unpleasant reality that lies beneath?
Thanks to the left wing control of the media, 90% of the people will not even hear of this proposal until after it has gone into effect.
And even if they hear of it they won’t understand what it means to them.
Not until it directly bites them in the derriere. And has been stated, then it will probably be too late. Unless something stops it.
The Ecco power grab is part of what appears to be a larger organic movement to consolidate markets and control the masses. It’s hard to get a handle on it because there are no central identifiable leaders…and perhaps there is no organizing and controlling center as of yet… only forays and elements. It comprises a shift in world view toward authoritarianism and away from liberal democracy both on the anarchistic right, left and the new middle. Fluid fascism could be characterized by dialectic between old style Fascism/neo Fascism of the 20th Century and the new endemic organic form of fascism flowing from a major change in world view.
When the US returns to the rule of law Greenpeace needs to be investigated for Extorsion and Racketeering, and prosecuted under the RICO statutes. No idea about Canada, but this won’t happen in the US until the until the Far Left Biden Administration is replaced by something resembling a balanced view. No choice but to wait for it.
If I wanted to create a banking regulation, it would be to forbid banks from discriminating against any legal business, corporation, not-for-profit, etc.
We will decide who your savings are lent to and you will be happy like our mates.
“Since bankers can’t, or won’t, act on their own, it is time for our elected officials to finally lay down the law and regulate banks so they are part of the climate solution rather than an ever-greater part of the problem.”
**************
Like I stated in a previous comment, fossil fuel companies and utilities are just so evil. If that is the case, they need to join together and submit a schedule to shut down all of their operations, including fossil fuel extraction. The reaction from the climate alarmists and their allies in the MSM and government should be fascinating to watch as the economy starts to collapse.
Like I have also said many times before, the key to undermining the climate alarmist narrative and everything that is built on it is to discredit the notion of a climate emergency to begin with. The science to do that is not lacking and is not hard to find. What it takes is someone in high office in government with the intestinal fortitude to do it. Sadly, I do not so one coming except for maybe Trump if he manages to beat back the latest indictment against him and get re-elected. I wish he’d done it the first time.
I watched a CO2 Coalition video with Dr Patrick Moore and Dr William Happer yesterday from Princeton University (recorded last month). They both explained why CO2 is not a problem. The presentation is well-done. The video link is below and is worth watching in my opinion.
Why Climate Change is NOT an Emergency – CO2 Coalition
TWTW reported that was hijacked during Dr. Happer’s presentation. At least the available videos do not show that. The Q&A where Dr. Happer mentions conflict of interest was spot-on!
Alternatively, they could just immediately stop fossil fuel operations and let the populace see what solar panels and windmills can do.
It won’t take long for the uprising to start.
Remember Brad, solar panels and wind turbines need fossil fuels as well for raw material mining, manufacturing and installation (including the cement base for the turbines). Building additional nuclear plants requires fossil fuel energy and cement as well.
Let’s all go back to living like they did in the Middle Ages. Wouldn’t that be fun?
I’m not talking about building more of those idiotic bird choppers and future landfill toxic wastes.
I’m saying that if the companies that provide fossil fuels are getting sued or regulated out of business, cease operations immediately so that people see what a disaster the green nightmare is.
But the problem then will be that the FF sector would be blamed, not the econuts.
If they are getting sued or regulated out of profitability and they cease operations, there will be no basis to be blamed. They did as the econuts wanted.
Any hint of such action by the oil companies would be the excuse for the immediate end of them. They would be nationalized and their top management criminally prosecuted at run away train speed.
As far as getting rid of the climate emergency notion with logic and data, you would have just as much success as you would using the same tactic on Islamic terrorist jihid. You are flailing at something that does not inhibit the same same universe as reason and thus cannot be reached through it.
Andy,
I understand that there is a segment of the population who can only be reached through emotional appeal and by providing them with confirmation for their belief systems to which they are emotionally and religiously devoted. They operate on a level where science, facts, logic and reasoning likely don’t work.
However, my guess is that most people do not want the climate alarmist narrative to be true (why would anyone want it to be true?), and they would therefore be open to listening to the science which questions and hopefully debunks the belief that it is true. If I am right about that, then I still think it is worthwhile to go on attack against it with the science that debunks it.
As I said, we just need someone at the top echelons of government (a president) who is willing to do this. Waiting for the climate to cool to the point where the alarmist narrative can no longer be supportable may take some time, if it happens at all. The alarmists in science, government and elsewhere are all very good at hiding the facts that undermine the alarmist narrative they are selling the public. It isn’t all that hard to do, and that is the problem.
As for bankers boys, guess who these 2 are :
On the right is Hjalmar Schacht, founder of the Bank of International Settlements, BIS, Basel Switzerland, outside any jurisdiction. This is the Banker’s banker along with Bank of England Norman Montague who set up the Versailles Treaty reparations that the guy on the left, the banker’s boy, implemented. Schacht was that guy’s Finance and Economics Minister.
Schacht famous for austerity, and military spending.
Meanwhile Heidegger, the so-called philosopher of the banker’s boys proposed giant wind turbines. Deja-vu?
Even Spiegel reported this :
https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/windkraft-im-nationalsozialismus-der-traum-vom-reichskraftturm-a-cac2a3b9-c80e-423a-9179-90a0792e8014
Bankers boys and green energy marched in lockstep. No surprise to see BlackRock and ESG marching together, although some apparently have tripped the step.
Financial firms announce $130 trillion in commitments for climate transition, but practical questions loom
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/11/03/climate-glasgow-bloomberg-carney/
Marc Carney, former Bank of England chief, Canadian, head of the GFANZ with Mike Bloomberg , green initiative.
$130 TRILLION green finance is not petty cash!
This proposal is the very definition of fascism.
The global banking cartel so far have not gotten the $130 TRILLION green baillout from hapless state tax-payers, and are utterly desperate, especially since their financial shock and awe aimed at Russia has painfully boomeranged on them.
This cartel must be regulated under RICO and Glass-Steagall – they are dangerously bankrupt.
Since UN Climate Finance czar Marc Carney demanded $130 TRILLION the world has utterly changed in a mere 2 years . The world is abandoning the Petrodollar, what a boomerang!
That puts Greenpence in perspective.
Some people see communists under their beds. bonbon see’s bankers.
Knock knock. who´s there. Robert Solow is here. Dear Greenpeace, I would like you to consider a declaration that to big to fail is to big to exist. And then after, look at the hockey stick graph in food supply … fossil fuels is not the problem but the fifth warefare gradient is…!!
The eco fascists have adopted their Net Zero policy as the prime driver to deindustrialise the West the Eco Fascists Net Zero or Netzes’ to give them their preferred collective name simply want to destroy Western civilisation. There can be no other explanation because we all know and so do the Netzes know CO2 does not control climate. What CO2 does is control energy availability and nothing will change that.
We have to resist the Netzes at every opportunity. The fossil fuel industry need to step up and stop supplying the ‘Just stop oil’ advocates from accessing any oil based products. They don’t like oil, fine don’t have any then, we can help them with that.
Let us see how long they manage without it. Next time Kerry wants to fly off in his private jet refuse to fuel it up, Let him see and feel the impact of just stopping oil!
ESG is a tool the left use to circumvent established protocols & procedures to pursue their twisted agendas
Big Banks present a different perspective, and that is “follow the money.” One bank which I will not name, said, … “Presidential campaign announcements are popping up left and right, and eventually they’ll bring policy proposals with ambitious goals for the future.” Instead of waiting to see what will develop and which ones will work… “watch and steer toward what’s already been passed: The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS) represent an estimated combined $2.4 trillion in public and private spending over the next 10 years. Together the three bill compose the largest commitment to industrial policy in the U.S. since the Cold War … with cascading macro effects. Government policy more than anything else will steer the direction of money flows.
Whether you believe whether climate change is an imminent threat to humanity (I do not), the money trail will flow to / follow from government policies. Why you should care A LOT about who is representing you in DC and who is sitting in the Oval Office. Joe gotta’ go.
But it will work this time.
Lefty utopias simply require indomitable stoicism and patience-
It’s Over! South Africa is F*&$d – Failed State – YouTube
When are people going to start seeing that Greenpeace is not anyone’s friend.
If politicians and the UN adopt Greenpeace tactics the world will be a pushed into famine with severe food shortages through out the world ..
Greenpeace want to ban nitrogen fertilizer which alone grows the extra food to feed 4 billion people every year .
They also have been pushing against farming live stock because of enteric methane emissions which is a closed cycle which can never add to methane atmospheric levels as all methane from livestock breaks down within ten years into water vapour and CO2 which grew the fodder that the livestock consumed .
They with other activists introduced the faulty theory that farmed livestock were warming the world at the Kyoto climate meeting.
If scientists had any back bone they should have stood up and squashed this ongoing lie that enteric methane will warm the world .
Why do Greenpeace keep pushing these anti food policies and yet still have a lot of support .?
My modest proposal is for Greenpeace to start their own bank. They will invest all their depositors funds in green and/or anti-fossil fuel projects. I’m sure they will profit biggly. 😉