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Calling on banks to defund climate chaos
Climate change is the single biggest threat we face and yet financial institutions continue to fund fossil fuel projects. Since the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world’s 60 biggest banks have poured $3.8 trillion into fossil fuels - they are pouring fuel on the fire as the world burns.
The client
Defund Climate Chaos: Across 26 countries and every continent on the planet Defund Climate Chaos demanded that the global financial system stops pouring billions into fossil fuels.
Key stats
1300+
Total pieces of coverage
155M
Estimate reach
BBC Newsnight, CNN, Channel 4 News, Washington Post, the Guardian, Der Spiegel, France 24, Sky News, Good Morning Britain, ABC News, Associated Press, Reuters
Coverage highlights
The challenge
On the eve of COP26, a coalition of activists around the world planned a global day of action calling on financial institutions to defund climate chaos.
Protests were set to be held in more than 50 locations around the world, targeting major global financial centres in Frankfurt, Brussels and New York as well as locations in Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia.
Climate icon Greta Thunberg was due to attend one of several actions taking place in London.
The coalition asked 89up for global communications support.
The solution
In order to execute the Day of Action strategy and utilise the spokespeople committed to the campaign, 89up worked on gaining the trust of sensitive indigenous communities before they travelled to the UK, conducted media training for the youth ambassadors, and provided safeguarding on the ground to ensure the youth ambassadors’ safety and privacy.
As our objective was to raise voices from the Global South we engaged with activists from these communities via the Signal app to build trust and understanding.
We worked with them to develop their core messaging and pitched them to media. These activists included Mitzi Jonelle Tan from the Philippines, who spoke powerfully about her fear of drowning in her own bedroom as sea levels rise around her island.
We also worked with the Pacific Climate Warriors - a group of young activists from the Pacific Islands fighting for climate justice.
