After delivering 40,000 petition signatures to Costco headquarters and warehouses, and asking questions at the virtual shareholder meeting, Costco CEO publicly acknowledges our campaign and “discussions with Citi about their carbon reduction plans.”
This is a re-publication of a blog from Third Act. Read the original blog here.
Last week on a cold, rainy morning in Issaquah, WA, the day before Costco’s annual virtual shareholder meeting, a dedicated group of Third Actors, Stop the Money Pipeline supporters, Costco members and shareholders, and local activists delivered 40,000 petition signatures to Costco’s new CEO, Mr. Ron Vachris, calling on Costco to cut ties with Citibank if Citi won’t clean up its portfolio and stop funding the expansion of fossil fuels. We delivered the petitions with a “Congrats, Ron!” welcome party to highlight his new role at the helm of the 3rd largest retailer in the US and the power he can leverage as a big client of Citibank’s. And, during the Costco shareholder meeting, he responded! Here is a round-up of our campaign activities, what Mr. Vachris said, and what’s next.
Making the Campaign Visible to Costco
As part of coalition efforts to escalate pressure on Wall Street banks to stop funding dirty fossil fuels, we are working to leverage the power of big bank clients like Costco to influence their banking partners on climate. Third Act and Third Act Working Groups, Stop the Money Pipeline, Stand.earth, Climate Organizing Hub, the Sunrise Project, New York Communities for Change, Hip Hop Caucus, and several other partners together launched the “Costco: Clean Up Your Credit Card” campaign in September 2023 and gathered petition signatures in-person and online throughout the Fall (if you haven’t signed it, you still can!).
Our tone has been consistently friendly and encouraging towards Costco, as our primary request is that Costco push Citibank to stop funding dirty fossil fuels. We have written to Costco’s executive leadership multiple times requesting a meeting and offering to be a resource to assist Costco in addressing the company’s emissions associated with its banking relationships. But we did not receive a substantive reply other than “we plan to honor our contract with Citibank.”
To make sure that Mr. Vachris, Costco leadership, and board members heard and saw the growing chorus of voices calling on Costco to “do the right thing,” as its corporate motto proclaims, we planned a series of activities to make this petition delivery visible.
Check out this round-up of our creative and collective efforts on full display over several days and watch the video below:
Costco CEO Responds at the Shareholder Meeting
As a result of all this creative campaigning and visibility, and in response to a group of Costco shareholders asking questions about Costco’s relationship with Citi during the virtual annual shareholder meeting, Costco’s new CEO, Ron Vachris, responded:
“Citi is indeed a key partner for Costco Wholesale, and we are aware of those petitions that were signed. We are going to continue moving forward with our climate action plan, and have been in discussions with Citi about their carbon reduction plans in the future. We’re going to focus on our efforts, and we’ll stay close to Citi and their efforts as well.”
We got the CEO of the 3rd largest retailer in the US to publicly acknowledge our campaign and the issue of Citibank’s climate pollution! While this is definitely not enough, this indicates significant progress for our campaign. We are hearing directly from the new CEO for the first time on this issue, Costco leadership has seen and acknowledged this issue, and we now know that Costco is having “discussions” with Citi about their carbon reductions.
Bill McKibben remarked on the CEO’s response: “Costco has taken a good first step: it has acknowledged the concerns there are with Citi as its credit card issuer. The next step should be robust discussions with Citi over the billions it continues to pour into harmful projects and companies that are contributing to climate change. We eagerly await the outcome of these discussions.”
Stop the Money Pipeline is a core leader of the Costco campaign coalition, and Sarah Lasoff STMP’s Special Projects Manager expressed her excitement about this progress and what’s next. “I am immensely grateful for and proud of all the organizing that has led to this moment. Our campaign and coalition are making progress and it’s because of people just like you. From sending an email to showing up to Costco’s HQ to petitioning at Costco warehouses and farmers markets, all of our collective pressure resulted in Costco CEO’s public response. While his response indicates progress, it is not enough. We are going to need as many folks involved as possible, especially Costco members, shareholders, employees, and board members, to continue our pressure urging Costco to turn acknowledgement into serious action.”
We look forward to hearing directly from Costco’s leadership about their own efforts as part of Costco’s climate action plan, how they will address Costco’s financed emissions associated with their banking relationships, and how Citi is responding.
Citi Are You Listening? Stop Funding Fossil Fuel Expansion!
Anne Shields, a member of Third Act Washington and a Costco shopper, notes, “We are pleased that new Costco CEO Ron Vachris is prepared to listen to 18,000 of Costco’s own members like me and to discuss with Citi about getting serious on climate. But Costco should know that talk isn’t enough, we want to see action. We want Costco to make it clear that they will take their business to another bank if Citi doesn’t get serious on climate. I am doing this for the future of my sons and I won’t be giving up.”
About a year ago, Chris Goelz, a Third Act supporter in Seattle, had just signed Third Act’s Banking on our Future Pledge and realized his Costco credit card was issued by Citibank. So, he reached out to Costco staff that managed the Citi credit card partnership to express his concerns, which were politely deflected and passed on to Citibank. Chris is also a Costco shareholder and says, “Our call remains the same: Unless Citi significantly curtails its funding of fossil fuel expansion, Costco must find a new credit card partner.”
Our efforts are not stopping with the petition delivery. No way! Already since last Friday, more than 100 people have submitted Letters to the Editor to their local papers (you can too! Use our online tool), and the Press Herald in Maine has already published one. More than 3,600 people wrote to the top four Costco executives asking them to heed the call of petition signers and reevaluate its relationship with Citibank. And there’s even a new song “Hey, Citi–Hey, Costco” by a Third Actor from Texas, Purly Rae Gates , who is a talented musician and songwriter. Purly Rae sings:
“Hey Costco, quit the Citi
For the country, the planet, for the future we will see.
Be a leader, do the right thing
Help us move the world to clean energy.
Clean up the card!
It’s a choice.
Mother Earth has given warning
It’s time to raise your voice.”
We are raising our collective voices! And we continue to urge Costco to raise its voice and call for Citi to stop funding fossil fuels and accelerate its investments in clean energy and climate solutions.
(Watch for the imminent release of Purly Rae Gates’ digital, 6-song EP “Songs for a Fossil Fuel Funeral” on the usual platforms).
$36 Million in Health Impacts Suffered by Texas & Louisiana Communities related to Citi’s financing
239 organizations and individuals sent a letter to Citi executives in solidarity with the Summer of Heat campaign of nonviolent protest
It’s been another wild couple of weeks during the Summer of Heat here in New York.
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