Monday March 4th, 8:45am, Convention Centre, Dublin 1: A group of 30 protesters led by Extinction Rebellion Ireland (XRI) protested JP Morgan as conference goers arrived for a Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) conference - of which JP Morgan is a major sponsor. A two metre high scythe-wielding, skull-headed “climate reaper” puppet, covered in the logos of fossil fuel companies that JP Morgan has financed, symbolized the death and destruction caused by the climate chaos that JP Morgan is funding. Protestors held banners emblazoned with skulls and fire, set off smoke bombs, drummed and chanted as they demanded that the company stop funding climate chaos. They also decried BPFI's legitimizing of the company by accepting sponsorship from them.

JP Morgan Chase is the world’s number 1 financier of fossil fuels since the 2015 Paris Agreement while its asset management division is one of the top investors in major oil and gas companies. A 2023 fossil fuel finance report states that JP Morgan Chase provided over $434 billion globally in fossil fuel finance between 2016 and 2022, putting them at the top of the “Dirty Dozen” - 12 banks that dominate the financing of fossil fuels. A 2023 assessment of asset managers’ climate action reports that JP Morgan Asset Management has bonds and shares totalling $25.7 billion in fossil fuel developers. A 2022 report on asset managers, fossil fuels and climate change lists them as one of the top investors in the 12 major oil and gas expansion companies.

Last month, JP Morgan Asset Management announced their departure from Climate 100+, an investor-led initiative "to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change". Dr. Alex Nico-Katz, scientist and XR Rebel said,

"By dropping out of Climate 100+, JP Morgan has shirked from taking even the slightest responsibility for its destructive actions. They talk up their investments in renewables, but they're talking out of both sides of their mouth. The simple fact is that JP Morgan is a huge financer and funder of fossil fuels and the emissions caused by burning fossil fuels are setting us on an apocalyptic path of climate catastrophe. Today, we remind conference hosts and attendees of this reality and that it is infinitely more pressing than any of our day-to-day work dealings. Those working within the financial industry have more power than most to make a real difference. All banks must stop financing fossil fuel companies immediately and asset managers must stop investing in fossil fuels."

Dr Johnny Collins of Irish Doctors for the Environment which supported today's protest, said,

"Investing in fossil fuels is actively destabilising our planet even further and jeopardising human health and human lives. The climate crisis is in every way a health crisis”.

Last month, Barclays bank, as a result of prolonged and intense pressure from campaigners over the bank's destructive energy policy, announced that it will stop direct financing of new fossil fuel projects. Protestor, retired university administrator and XRI rebel Trisha Kiersey of Shankill, Co Dublin said,

"I'm here today protesting because I know that activism can and does make a difference. We see it with the Barclays announcement. But we need lots more people out protesting and getting engaged in this fight for our future. When your children and grandchildren ask you what you did to stop runaway climate change, you're going to want to be able to look them in the eye and say you did what you could."

In 2023, XRI consistently targeted JP Morgan for their fossil fuel funding. In June, they called out their sponsorship of the Docklands 5K run - proceeds of which went to Crusaders Athletic Club - as an exercise in image laundering. Conference host, BPFI, is the self-proclaimed “principal voice of banking” in Ireland.

Its Chief Executive, Brian Hayes, said in a speech at COP 26 that “Every financial decision we take as a sector needs to take climate into account. I want to make it crystal clear that climate action is a key priority for BPFI".

Jenni Waldron, administrator and an XRI activist who attended the protest, said,

"The decision by BPFI to accept sponsorship from JP Morgan, the world’s top financier of fossil fuels, puts them in a really bad light. Their CEO said in the past he wanted climate action to be a key priority for BPFI, but I can't believe that when I see JP Morgan's name over this conference".

In the past year, Ireland has experienced a number of extreme weather disasters that can be attributed to climate change. A recent study showed that the extensive flooding caused by Storm Babet in Midleton, which damaged 680 properties, was over twice as likely to happen at current global temperatures compared to pre-industrial times. Professor Peter Thorne, who collaborated on the study, predicts "that in a two-degree warmer world, which is where we're heading, if not beyond, the rainfall will be made even more frequent and even more severe."

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