About 50 people set up outside the Commonwealth Bank branch in Katoomba last Friday [June 2] to protest against the bank’s support for fossil fuels.
The group was urging the bank to stop investing billions of dollars in coal.
The community action was one of dozens of similar protests that took place around the country with a wave of people taking a stand against the bank’s loans to dirty energy.
Since the Paris Agreement was signed in December 2015, CommBank has lent more money to fossil fuels than any other Australian bank.
Organiser Zoe Michaela Smith, a local activist and, mother of 4, and local business owner (with multiple Commonwealth Bank accounts) closed her accounts on the day.
She said; “Commbank is the only major Australian bank that continues to invest in new fossil fuel projects. Commbank have invested $3.9 billion in the last two years, and as a customer I refuse to be a part of it.”
The locals at Katoomba carried banners reading: ‘Planet before Profit’ and ‘Commbank - funding Coal Killing the Reef’, ‘Tell CommBank to invest in Australia’s future. Not the past.’
The group created a song-filled and theatrical protest, drawing attention with colourful tropical fish symbolising the Great Barrier Reef, which is directly threatened by the proposed Carmichael Coal Mine, and global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
The group collected 220 signatures on their petition to the Commbank CEO Ian Narev.