Alaska Natives Demanded Goldman Sachs Not Fund Arctic Drilling—And It Listened
The main argument is that banks are funding the climate crisis every time they loan money to fossil fuel companies. Along with that, they support human rights violations when they give money to companies that take land from indigenous people and engage in violent suppression. In the case of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, that meant supporting a brutal police force that met protestors with water hoses and rubber bullets in 2016.
“Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would permanently destroy the primary food source of the Gwich’in people, our culture, and our way of life,” said Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee, in a Sierra Club statement. “The Trump administration may have made up their minds about selling off this sacred place, but the fight is far from over. We’re glad to see Goldman Sachs recognize that the Arctic Refuge is no place for drilling and we hope that other banks, and the oil companies they fund, will follow their lead.”
