Greens to banks: Just say no to coal

Environmental group tells big financiers to stop funding dirty power plants.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Fueled by climate change concern and a Texas utility’s recent scrapping of several “dirty” power plants, one environmental group is looking to cut funding for new coal fired power plants at the source: the big banks.

San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network says there are plans for 150 new coal power plants in the next few decades with a price tag of over $125 billion, so it’s asking the banks that give loans to utilities – specifically Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America – to pull the plug on financing.


“If these plants get built, we’re in serious trouble in terms of climate change,” said Rebecca Tarbotton, global finance campaign director for Rainforest Action Network. “The banks are positioning themselves as climate leaders,” so now, she says, “they need to take leadership.”

If the new plants do get built, they’ll spew 585 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, according to Tarbotton. That’s about 10 percent of the nation’s total carbon emissions from energy in 2006, according to the Energy information Administration. Carbon dioxide is one of the principle greenhouse gasses that scientists say are responsible for global warming.

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