A group of environmental activist organizations yesterday sent an open letter to the private banking sector urging three major U.S. banks to halt livestock-related lending over climate concerns.
The groups, in a letter to Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase, ask the banks to stop “all new financing that enables the perpetuation or expansion of industrial livestock production” and require livestock clients to disclose third-party verified climate targets. The letter does not specifically mention “poultry.”
The letter also asks the banks to immediately set, publish, and implement agriculture sector-specific 1.5°C targets and action plans, including:
- Halting all new financing that enables the perpetuation or expansion of industrial livestock
production; - Requiring meat, dairy, and feed clients to disclose third-party verified 1.5°C targets and action plans that align with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2022 (IPCC22) or an equivalent science-based sectoral pathway; and
- Addressing the additional social and environmental harms from industrial livestock production.
The full letter can be found here.
