Comptroller Stringer, Neva Goodwin, Miranda Kaiser Op-Ed Demanding a cleaner energy future now: Why JPMorgan Chase should boot Lee Raymond off its board
(New York, NY) – The New York Daily News published an op-ed by New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, Boston University Fellow Neva Goodwin, and Rockefeller Family Fund President Miranda Kaiser on removing Lee Raymond from JP Morgan’s board of directors in order to move away from financing the dirty fossil fuels of the past and toward the big, strategic clean energy investments of the future.
Text of the op-ed is available below and can be viewed online here.
JPMorgan Chase recently capitulated to the demands of concerned investors and climate activists by announcing that Lee Raymond, the former CEO of Exxon, will be stepping down as lead independent director of the bank’s board but staying on the board. Booting Raymond from his position as the most powerful “independent” director is a major victory for our planet and for investors, but it’s not enough.
Raymond is an avowed climate science skeptic and has no business remaining on JPMorgan’s board in any capacity. That’s why we — the daughter and granddaughter of former Chase chairman David Rockefeller, and the New York City controller — are taking the campaign further and urging shareholders to go farther and vote Raymond totally off the board.
Despite a now-universal consensus that fossil fuels have no role in a sustainable future, banks continue to pour money into dirty energy, and none more so than JPMorgan. With Raymond serving on the board, JPMorgan has financed $269 billion in fossil-fuel expansion between 2016 and 2019, making it the leading banker behind coal mining, tar sands, arctic oil and gas, offshore oil and gas, and fracking projects. While the company has taken some recent steps to limit financing for new fossil fuel developments, it continues to prioritize short-term gains at the long-term expense of the company and the planet.
In contrast, a coalition of 130 banks and competitors to JPMorgan, including Citigroup and Barclays, have committed to aligning their investment actions with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Rather than trying to capitalize on a global energy transition, JPMorgan’s financing of fossil fuels today locks in emissions for decades to come. This places JPMorgan at the back of the pack and drastically behind the curve.
Times have changed since the Rockefeller family owned Standard Oil, the precursor to ExxonMobil. While oil once made John D. Rockefeller the richest man in the world, in recent weeks, U.S. oil prices fell below zero for the first time on record — meaning that oil traders have had to pay people to take what was once “black gold” off of their hands. As descendants of the original oil fortune, members of the Rockefeller family are keenly aware of the moral and financial dangers of owning stocks that support the carbon economy.
Likewise, as investment advisor to New York City’s pension funds, charged with protecting $200 billion in pension fund assets, the job of Comptroller is to understand and anticipate risk. Fossil fuels pose grave financial and climate risks — and the window for action is closing. That’s why the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers Retirement System of the City of New York, and New York City Board of Education Retirement System are pushing to hold JPMorgan management accountable. Raymond has no place on the board of a company that needs to move away from financing the dirty fossil fuels of the past and toward the big, strategic clean energy investments of the future.
Raymond is neither independent nor climate competent. He has served on the board of JPMorgan for 33 years, including 19 years in board leadership roles, and is as entrenched as it gets. During Raymond’s 42-year tenure at Exxon, he presided over a corporate strategy of climate denial. He has devoted his career to accelerating the expansion of fossil fuels, while publicly rejecting the science of climate change.
Under Raymond, Exxon refused to share with the public warnings from Exxon’s own scientists and researchers about the reality of climate change and its deadly course, instead fighting any effort to move the company toward alternative energies — including those efforts made by the descendants of the founding family of ExxonMobil, the Rockefellers.
Pushing JPMorgan to set a timeline for Raymond’s departure as lead independent director is a big victory and should herald a turning point in how JPMorgan treats climate risk. By voting Raymond off the board entirely, we can send a message that we will not allow fossil fuel’s old guard dictate our future. That’s a legacy none of us can afford.
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