Investors With $2 Trillion Challenge Banks on Pipeline Financing

Members of the Investors & Indigenous Peoples Working Group today delivered a statement to the banks (PDF) that provided financing for the Line 3 pipeline and other oil sands projects. The statement raised concerns about the tremendous risks and costs that arise from underwriting such projects, and especially the “threats they pose to the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the cultural survival of Indigenous practices, the long-term health of local water systems, and the climate.” Background on the troubling history of the Line 3 pipeline project can be found in this investor brief (PDF).The statement was signed by 158 global investors and their representatives, representing over $2 trillion in assets under management or advisement.

The Unitarian Universalist Association is a signer of the statement and was part of the drafting team. The UUA is leading the engagement with JPMorgan Chase, one of four US banks addressed by the statement.

The Investors & Indigenous Peoples Working Group (IIPWG) brings together investors and Indigenous Peoples to forward the human rights of Indigenous Peoples through the capital markets. The Native name of IIPWG is Yethiya wihe’, meaning “We all give to them/We all invest in them” in the Oneida language. IIPWG is a project of First Peoples Worldwide, housed at the University of Colorado, Boulder.