Protesters Demand Wells Fargo Divest Of Fossil Fuel Companies

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Hundreds marched to Wells Fargo's headquarters in San Francisco Monday, at the end of a 34-mile protest from Palo Alto to demand that the bank divest from fossil fuel companies.

From noon to 3 p.m. demonstrators gathered around 464 California St., one of the entrances to the bank's headquarters to call on the financiers to invest instead in clean energy.

Demonstrators chanted, performed street theater and blocked an entrance by locking arms in oil barrels as they have dubbed the bank "Oily Wells" for its investments in big oil firms.

Of the bank, Vanessa Warheit, campaign program manager for 350 Silicon Valley, which organized the groups for the march, said, "We definitely got their attention."

She said on the march they also got the attention of people in places where the issue isn't discussed usually, such as parts of San Mateo County. Part of the march was along El Camino Real in the county.

Warheit and Ruth Robertson of the Raging Grannies, which participated in the march, said many people expressed their support for the demonstrators by honking their horns and stopping to talk to marchers.

More than 50 organizations came together for the demonstration. Warheit said the bridges built among the organizations at the march are critical for the movement to address climate change.

"This was another brick in that wall," Warheit said. Organizers want Wells Fargo to be the first major bank to divest entirely from the fossil fuel industry.

In response to a request, bank officials issued a statement Monday night saying, "Wells Fargo has committed $200 billion in financing through 2030 to businesses and projects that support the transition to a low-carbon economy.

"The transition is a journey, during which we will continue to honor our broader commitment to responsibly finance the development of all forms of energy in order to help meet the growing U.S. demand for transportation fuels, medical equipment and devices, and other critical needs."

Bank officials also said that since 2012 the bank has invested nearly $83 billion in firms that are environmentally-friendly and in 2017, 8 percent of all wind and solar photovoltaic energy created in the U.S. came from a facility owned wholly or partly by Wells Fargo.

In 2017, the bank started meeting all of its electricity needs worldwide with renewable energy.

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— Bay City News