Our
Demands

Youth demand that CEOs
and Boards of U.S. Financial
Institutions commit to the
following:

Immediately end financial support for fossil fuel expansion

Publicly end all financial services for any corporation or project that is engaged in expanding the extraction, production, or transportation of fossil fuels. ^{1, 2}

Phase out and prohibit financial support for all fossil fuels

Publicly commit to a rapid phase-out of financial services for all fossil fuel corporations³ on an explicit timeline aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5 °C. Adopt a permanent “No Fossil Fuel” policy that prohibits any future financial services for fossil fuel corporations.

Phase out and prohibit financial support for deforestation

Publicly commit to a rapid phase-out of financial services for any corporation that has not committed to zero deforestation, and do so on an explicit timeline aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5 °C. Adopt a permanent “No Deforestation” policy that prohibits any future financial services for any corporation that has not committed to zero deforestation.

Uphold indigenous rights and sovereignty

Adopt a permanent policy that prohibits f inancial services for any project or entity that does not respect Indigenous treaty rights and does not obtain “Free, Prior, and Informed Consent” of the tribal communities concerned (as articulated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples)⁴

Take accountability for compliance

Create a permanent independent third-party mechanism to audit and verify the implementation of these policies.

[1]

This includes Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota Access pipeline, Enbridge’s Line 3 crude oil pipeline, Mountain Valley LLC partners and Equitrans LP’s Mountain Valley Pipeline, TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline, and projects abroad like Repsol-YPF’s fracking and drilling of the Vaca Muerta shale, Total SA’s Mozambique LNG Projects and East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, Equinor’s offshore oil drilling in the Barents Sea, among hundreds of others.
[2]

“Fossil fuels” - coal, oil, tar sands oil, fracked oil and gas, offshore oil and gas, and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
[3]

“Fossil fuel corporations” - all corporations involved in expanding fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure along the whole value chain, which includes corporations involved in: the exploration for new fossil fuel reserves; the extraction, transport, or combustion of fossil fuels; the building of infrastructure that incentivizes new fossil fuel extraction or extends the lifetime of existing fossil fuel extraction or fossil fuel consuming projects. (This includes utilities.)
[4]

“Free, Prior, and Informed Consent” refers to the right to make free and informed choices about the use or development of their lands and resources.

Youth demand that State/
Federal government
officials commit to the
following:

Require financial institutions to end financial support for corporations driving the climate crisis

Mandate financial institutions to end financial services for fossil fuel corporations, corporations causing deforestation, and corporations that dishonor Indigenous treaty rights and sovereignty, on an explicit timeline aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5 °C.

Investigate Wall Street for their climate liability

Call for a federal or state-led investigation of Wall Street institutions for their climate liability in financially enabling the harmful activities of the fossil fuel industry.

Youth demand
that Local/State/Federal
government officials
commit to the
following:

Legalize public banking

Introduce and endorse legislation to enable the creation of local and state public banks (such as the Public Banking Act introduced by Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez).

Invest in local communities and advance a sustainable economy