April 30, 2024

NEW YORK CITY – Today, 26% of Citi’s shareholders voted for a resolution on Indigenous rights filed by an order of New Jersey nuns, while the results of a similar resolution at Wells Fargo were not disclosed.

Questions about the banks’ climate, sustainability, and Indigenous Rights records dominated Citi’s meeting, and Wells Fargo faced similar questions. Shareholders asked about Citi’s support for LNG including marine gas, Amazon oil and gas, emissions from agriculture, and its recent move to quit the Equator Principles, a set of bare minimum social and environmental standards.

Citi refused to answer questions on the Indigenous resolution, despite stating there were several questions tabled by shareholders. CEO Jane Fraser gave scripted answers to questions and even stated the presenter of the Indigenous rights resolution, Tribal Chair Juan Mancias, referred to the Amazon rainforest, which he did not. When asked to meet with Mancias, Fraser refused.

The vote at Citi means the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace can refile the resolution next year, which has become a source of embarrassment for the bank and has seen Citi hastily release a report in recent weeks in an attempt to blunt investor support.

The last two years, the Citi resolution has attracted over 30% investor support. The Wells Fargo resolution was not filed last year because of a technical issue but attracted 26% support in 2022.

The resolutions come in the wake of new information filed at the SEC about the risks related to the banks’ financing deals and stark opposition by Indigenous communities. 

The resolutions cite Citi’s and Wells Fargo’s funding for Enbridge, which has built controversial pipelines such as the Dakota Access Pipeline and Lines 3 and 5. Citi is also being criticized as one of the biggest funders of oil and gas in the Amazon rainforest, where it funds Petroperú, PetroAmazonas and Frontera Energy, companies linked to oil spills and Indigenous rights violations.

The Citi resolution was presented by Juan Mancias, tribal chairman of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of South Texas, which is opposing Enbridge’s plans to build the Rio Bravo pipeline. The pipeline is meant to feed into the Rio Grande LNG facility but has been delayed for years due to litigation, reiterating the financial risks involved in the project. Banks BNP and Société Générale have already withdrawn support for the project.

The Wells Fargo resolution was presented by Tara Houska, tribal attorney and founder of the Giniw Collective, which opposed Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands pipeline in Minnesota. The project was embroiled in controversy given the legacy of the existing pipeline in the area which caused the biggest inland oil spill in the US and the financing of extensive law enforcement intervention by Enbridge. 

The AGMs were preceded by a week of protests across the world calling on Citi and Wells Fargo to step up their climate action and address its record of environmental racism and Indigenous Rights violations (click here for photos). Hundreds of Citi employees were prevented from entering the bank’s headquarters in the morning two days in a row. Today, parents and children gathered outside Citi headquarters in New York demanding the bank meet its climate commitments.

Last week, communities affected by polluting projects that Citi funds hosted a hearing in New York City titled The People vs. Citi: Confronting Citi Group’s Environmental Racism, calling on the bank to end its fossil fuel financing and invest in communities. This first-of-its kind hearing on Citi’s environmental racism was chaired by Roishetta Ozane, a Black leader and environmental activist from Sulphur, Louisiana, and founder of the Vessel Project along with environmental leaders from the Amazon, the Gulf South, and other communities. Petrochemical facilities and oil and gas refineries funded by Citigroup have polluted the air, land, and water in Roishetta’s community. 

Quotes

Sister Susan Francois of Sisters of St Joseph of Peace said:

“For three years in a row support from investors for our resolution has remained steady at Citi. This is a clear message to the bank that human rights violations are bad for business. Today’s vote allows us to resubmit the resolution and the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace will continue to voice concerns over present and future generations impacted by oil, gas and coal projects. We are guided by Pope Francis who has set out clearly the Church’s role in addressing projects in communities which result in a decline in their quality of life, the clearing of their land and the robbing of joy and hope for the future. We urge Citi to heed this call too.”

Juan Mancias tribal chairman of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, who presented the Indigenous rights resolution at Citi said:

“Citi has provided Enbridge with over $5 billion in financing enabling the Rio Bravo pipeline which Enbridge is trying to build on Carrizo Comecrudo land. Citi clients like Enbridge will destroy acres of wetlands and the habitats of threatened and endangered plant and animal species. These projects affect us as a tribe. Société Générale and BNP Paribas have withdrawn funding from the Rio Bravo project because they see this risk in financing indigenous rights violations. We urge the city to stop investing in companies that steal Indigenous land and exploit our environment.”

Tara Houska tribal attorney and founder of Giniw Collective said: 

“Human beings are now in the era of ‘climate boiling’. Globally, Indigenous peoples are defending what remains of earth’s biodiversity and drinkable water with our bodies, our freedom, sometimes our lives. We have cost Wells Fargo clients billions in lost profits. Clients like Enbridge, mired in lawsuits, environmental degradation, and reputational disaster. We are not going to stop — we are standing up for our children, for all children. Wells Fargo can make history. A first step would be telling its shareholders the truth of violations of human rights by its clients.”

Hannah Saggau, Senior Climate Finance Campaigner at Stand.earth said:

“Citi’s shareholders continue to send a clear message that the bank needs to do more on climate action and justice for frontline and Indigenous communities. Given the level of support for the Indigenous Peoples rights’ resolution, we expect Citi to step up and end financing for projects harming Indigenous communities at home and abroad.” 

Mary Mijares Fossil Finance Campaigner at Amazon Watch said:

“Indigenous peoples face continuous threats for standing against the destruction of their ancestral lands in the Amazon rainforest, yet Citi supports companies like Petroperú, known for severe oil contamination and undermining rights. A substantial number of Citi investors see this as a material risk and have requested the bank to disclose more information about it. When will Citi commit to more robust and effective Indigenous rights safeguards that truly respect free, prior, and informed consent, and prohibit financing for controversial clients such as Petroperú?”

April 10, 2024

Investor nuns from New Jersey are warning Citi shareholders in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that a new report by the bank on Indigenous issues does not meet the demands of their resolution which is due to go before shareholders in a vote.

Citi refused to agree to the nuns’ demands for a disclosure on the effectiveness of its Indigenous rights policies in relation to its funding of projects and companies. Instead the bank published a report, without consulting Indigenous communities, that is “wholly unresponsive” and reveals that “Citi continues to finance clients and projects with track records of egregious violations of Indigenous rights and expose the company to significant risk”, the nuns’ exempt solicitation to the SEC states.

The public row between the global bank and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace is a warning to other US banks, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs, which also face Indigenous rights and environmental justice resolutions at this year’s annual shareholders meetings. In contrast, Indigenous investors at Royal Bank of Canada withdrew a resolution at the bank following an agreement on progress.

Three years on, Citi is scrambling to blunt investor support for the nuns’ resolution which in 2022 and 2023 attracted over 30% of shareholder vote and has become a source of embarrassment for the bank.

The Citi report on Indigenous issues admits that despite flagging 16 clients over risks to Indigenous rights, none have been refused funding or services by the bank. Out of the 37 projects which the bank identified as posing a risk to Indigenous rights, Citi refused funding for just seven.

Indigenous groups have also rejected Citi’s Indigenous report. An alliance of seven Indigenous nations from the Peruvian Amazon, impacted by oil spills and rights violations by Citi client Petroperú, have denounced Citi’s report saying they have “serious concerns” about it. Citi has refused to meet the groups when they travel from Perú to New York in two weeks.

Indigenous groups affected by Citi’s $5.8 billion funding of controversial pipeline company Enbridge are also angry at the publication of the report. This includes communities which are fighting Line 3 and Line 5 construction in Minnesota and the Rio Bravo LNG pipeline in south Texas.

The nuns’ resolution will be voted on by shareholders at the annual shareholders meeting on April 30. In contrast, Citi in recent weeks agreed with the New York City Comptroller’s demands to disclose information on ratios of energy funding and with another investor on information on its clients transition plans. Both resolutions were withdrawn.

Quotes

Sister Susan Francois of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, said:

“More than 30% of shareholders supported our proposal last year and the year before, asking Citi to report concrete performance indicators on how they are respecting Indigenous People’s rights in existing and proposed general corporate and project financing.   This report is very light on this critical information and does not provide shareholders with confidence that Indigenous rights are being protected. In fact, new projects are being developed now with funding from Citi that place these rights and Citi’s reputation at risk. We look forward to presenting our proposal to shareholders again and encourage Citi to respond with more robust reporting to shareholders.”

Olivia Bisa, President of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Chapra Nation in Peru:

“Citi talks about respecting the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous communities as set down by the UN, but it has clients like Petroperú which refuse to recognize the right to say no of seven Indigenous nations in the Peruvian Amazon. Petroperu’s disregard for Indigenous rights should mean something to the banks that lend them money; but in reality their mutual business continues. If they are serious about Indigenous rights, Citi must hold its clients accountable for ensuring that their due diligence adheres to international standards of Free, Prior and Informed Consent.” 

Tara Houska (Anishinaabe), founder of Indigenous women’s and two spirit led environmental protection group, Giniw Collective, which has opposed the Enbridge pipelines in Minnesota, said:

“Clearly Citi feels the pressure of Indigenous peoples’ voices finally being heard, yet they continue to avoid truth. Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous communities does not mean consultation, it means consent. Many of Citi’s clients lack our consent, costing them billions in delays, legal fights, and reputational damage. In response to hard-won protections in project-level finance for our people and ecosystems, industry largely shifted to corporate lending to maintain the status quo. Citi’s clients are obscuring the truth from Citi, as Citi is now obscuring the truth from its shareholders: Indigenous peoples pay the direct price of violence on our communities and lands, we all pay as a species reliant on a habitable planet. We deserve better.”

Juan Mancias, Chair of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, whose ancestral land will be impacted by the Rio Bravo gas pipeline which Enbridge wants to build, said:

“The title of this report is ‘Respecting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ but respect is a learned value, it’s not a corporate ideal. Citi can’t decide on its own who to respect because they don’t have the standards in place to do that. You can say ‘respect’ but it’s really about action. Citi’s funding of Enbridge shows it is not interested in taking the action needed to show respect.”

Gisela Hurtado, Advocacy Manager and Peruvian Attorney, Amazon Watch:  

“The Indigenous Peoples of the Peruvian Amazon, represented by organizations such as FENAP, GTANW, and GTANCH, strongly condemn Citi’s recent report, ‘Respecting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,’ for failing to adhere to international standards regarding Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the right to self-determination. While the report acknowledges Citi’s commitment to Indigenous collective rights, it falls short by neglecting clear Interamerican standards on Indigenous rights and self-determination”. 

Courtney Wicks Executive Director of Investor Advocates for Social Justice, which supports the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace on their shareholder filings said:

“Citi’s history of perpetuating racism and human rights violations as a result of the bank’s policies and practices has repeatedly undermined its reputation and exposed the bank to material risk. It is unclear why the company would continue to engage in such bad faith with investors and fail to consult impacted stakeholders before publishing such an egregiously inadequate report. This, coupled with the bank’s withdrawal from the Equator Principles, indicates that Citi no longer cares about its reputation or the harm its business commits against BIPOC and other marginalized peoples, or the planet itself.”

Hannah Saggau, Senior Climate Finance Campaigner, Stand.earth:

“If Citi is so eager to get investors and communities off its back then it needs to go beyond a report like this. We want to see actual policy changes where the bank agrees to end funding of egregious projects and companies which harm Indigenous communities from the Amazon rainforest to North America and places us further away from dealing with catastrophic climate chaos.”

Ryan Brightwell, campaign lead, banks and human rights, said:

“This flimsy paper tells us nothing about how effective Citi’s policies have been in protecting Indigenous Rights. It’s as if they haven’t understood the question. We know the bank has a track record of funding damaging extractive projects and companies, from the Cerrejon coal mine to DAPL and Line 3. But rather than dwelling on how this has been allowed to happen and what needs to improve, the bank has simply rehashed its policies and published a few numbers of transactions approved and declined.

“It’s not enough to tell shareholders there were 7 deals last year that were sufficiently outside the pale for the bank to say “no”, and this won’t reassure shareholders that the bank is managing risks effectively. Shareholders should call the bank’s bluff and insist the bank really examines its failings and improves.”

Background Info

Citi published a climate report two weeks ago which showed 71% of the oil, gas and coal companies it funds do not have sufficient climate plans to transition away from fossil fuels and address their massive emissions. Last month the bank exited the Equator Principles, which set minimum standards on risks to the environment and local communities in countries where they finance oil, gas, coal, infrastructure and mining projects. The day before its proxy book was released, Citi capitulated to New York City’s Comptroller and agreed to issue a report on the bank’s ratio of financing dirty fossil fuels vs low-carbon energy. NYC withdrew its resolution. 

Citi is the second biggest funder of fossil fuels in the world, pumping in $322 billion between  2016-2022 according to the annual Banking on Climate Chaos report. Citi is one of the biggest funders of oil and gas in the Amazon and is the biggest foreign funder of fossil fuel expansion in Africa.