ANZ slammed for fossil fuel sponsorship

August 27, 2019

ANZ slammed for fossil fuel sponsorship

Peter Whitmore protests outside Queen Street ANZ as part of 350 Aotearoa. Photo: TWN reporter

Activists dressed as bank staff protested at  ANZ’s Queen St branch against the bank sponsoring a fossil fuel industry group.

Twenty 350 Aotearoa protestors carrying placards spoke to passers-by about the bank’s links with the Petroleum Club, a club for fossil fuel companies to coordinate activity for joint benefit.

Members of the public were also able to vote on whether ANZ should sponsor an open-cast mine in Mt Eden, oil drilling in the Waitemata, or a coal-fired plant on the viaduct.

ANZ told TWN that the Petroleum Club did meet to discuss issues of renewable energy and transitioning to cleaner energy sources.

“We don’t lend to oil exploration. In fact, we lend a lot more to the green tech and renewable energy sectors than the non-renewable sector and that’s growing.”

While ANZ also sponsors sports teams such as the BlackCaps and events such as Daffodil Day, it does not highlight its sponsorship of the Petroleum Club, said 350 Aotearoa campaign organiser Erica Finnie.

“We’re asking them to set a standard by having a policy in place that guarantees they never will [invest in fossil fuel companies],” said.

“It’s about setting that standard of what policy should look like across banks and then pushing for banks that are doing big investments to stop,” said Finnie.

The event was part of a campaign that saw other protests at banks in Wellington and Dunedin last week.

The group is using fake satirical ANZ advertisements, such as ‘not so proud sponsors of the Petroleum Club,’ as well as playing on ANZ’s line of ‘healthy homes start here’ with posters saying ‘the climate crisis starts here,’ to get their message across.

It and other supporters pressured ANZ into dropping its gold sponsorship of a 2016 conference where petroleum and gas companies were able to bid on exploration projects which it had backed the previous year. But Finnie said this year they discovered that they were sponsoring the Petroleum Club.

In May, 12 protestors from 350 Aotearoa disrupted the Petroleum Club’s quarterly meeting in New Plymouth to raise attention to ANZ’s sponsorship of it.

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