350.org, the international climate action organization, along with state, regional and local 350 groups across the country, takes action today on Earth Day 2022, to draw attention to the Fossil Free Federal Reserve campaign, and engage citizens nationally around the ever-pressing climate crisis.

(Photo: Christian O'Rourke/ 350.org)

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The Federal Reserve - the United States' Central Bank, fueled the climate crisis by lending billions of dollars to fossil fuel companies. People across the country mobilize today to stop the financial flows to fossil-fuel spewing oil and gas companies. This year they are bringing their message to the Federal Reserve. 

Brooke Harper, 350.org Campaign Manager, stated:

"On April 22nd, Earth Day, at Federal Reserve branches across the country, we are sending a clear message to the incoming Federal Reserve Board of Governors: The Fed must make concrete progress to keep global warming below 1.5 celsius. It is time to approve President Biden's nominees, and for the Fed to stop bailing out fossil fuels, to fund a Green New Deal, and to pave the way for an equitable COVID recovery."

Today sees numerous protest actions with art, people in the streets, and climate solutions in practice. Actions included protesting at the Federal Reserve in Washington DC, and regional branches in Denver, St. Louis, and more.  Activists are creating art installations in the San Francisco Bay Area imagining our Earth in 2050, advocating for electric buses in Minnesota, marching across the state of Wisconsin to protest a pipeline, and demanding the Governors of Colorado and New Hampshire to declare Climate Emergencies.

May Boeve, 350.org Executive Director, stated:

"The Federal Reserve is duty-bound to act in the public interest. This means tackling climate change, as called for by the scientific report released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on April 4, where UN Secretary-General António Guterres explained that governments everywhere must reprioritise their energy policies, or else the world will become uninhabitable. 350.org local groups take action today to create the world that we all want to live in."

The main goals of the 350.org #FossilFreeFed Campaign call for the Federal Reserve Bank to:
1. Exclude fossil fuels from their own portfolios
2. Regulate commercial banks' lending to fossil fuel producers (make lending prohibitively expensive, or expressly restrict such lending)
3. Address the financial system's failure to put a price on climate risk.

READ MORE: 350.org on Senate Advancing of Lisa Cook for Federal Reserve Board of Governors