Bank of America is a major enabler of fossil fuel projects and a poster child for the powerful interests that are driving climate change. BNP Paribas wants to move away from fossil fuels, but it’s still financing the Cricket Valley plant.įor example, Bank of America is one of the banks financing CVEC. This could be an important point for organizers to raise – not only to help BNP live up to its pledge, but also to pressure other banks financing the plant to do the same. However, it appears that BNP is still financing CVEC, which will run on shale-drilled fracked gas. The bank also made a broader pledge to stop working with fossil fuel companies that do business in shale or oil sands, and that they’re “determined to support the transition to a more sustainable world.” BNP was one of the banks that divested from the Dakota Access Pipeline in the face of mass protest. One of those banks is the Paris-based BNP Paribas. Investors committed $709 million in equity commitments – this is the category that TIAA and BlackRock fall into.īut a dozen US and international banks and financial firms also put up $875 million in funded debt facilities to finance the plant. In January 2017, Advanced Power announced that it had successfully completed its efforts to collect $1.584 billion from investors and banks to finance CVEC’s construction. (We profiled some of Fink and BlackRock’s investments in destructive industries like fossil fuels, guns, and private prisons here ).Ī bank financing the plant has pledged to divest from fracked-gas projects. This decision to invest in new fossil fuel infrastructure stands in tension with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s recent pronouncement that “society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose” and that “every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.” There is perhaps no greater threat to society today than climate change, and Fink must divest from fossil fuel investments that drive this crisis if he means what he says. It’s also worth noting that BlackRock is a CVEC investor, with a 10% stake in the plant. TIAA has a 35% stake in the Cricket Valley plant. Even if they are not, they could more fully support fossil fuel divestment by only agreeing to work with companies that have no investments in the fossil fuel industry. It’s unclear whether clients who have committed to fossil fuel divestment and who invest with TIAA are directly invested in TIAA’s fossil fuel projects. The list likely contains many US institutions that do business with TIAA. Here is a growing list of cities and institutions that have committed to divesting from fossil fuels. For instance, three institutions in New York State that agreed to divest from fossil fuels – Teachers Retirement System of the City of New York, New York City Employees Retirement System, and Pratt Institute – still invest through TIAA even though TIAA is a major investor in projects tied to fracking like the Cricket Valley Energy Center. Many big clients that invest through TIAA and who support fossil fuel divestment – for example, institutions of higher education and state pension systems – may be unaware that their asset manager remains actively invested in oil and gas. A TIAA attorney’s website states that he helped “TIAA-CREF in connection with TIAA Oil and Gas Investments’ acquisition of a 35% interest in Cricket Valley Energy Center from APNA Holdings, a subsidiary of Advanced Power AG.” TIAA is also an investor in Advanced Power’s Carroll County Energy Center. TIAA is a huge money manager that oversees over $1 trillion in assets of more that 15,000 institutions and 5 million individuals. Do its clients that have pledged to divest from fossil fuels know this? The plant is largely backed by private equity investors, many headquartered outside the U.S., who see it as merely another medium through which to cash in – even if this happens at the expense of surrounding communities and the environment.īut opponents may still have some leverage points for trying to stop CVEC. The project should raise alarm for a number of reasons aside from its destructive impact on the climate. The plant is set to begin operations in 2020.ĬVEC has generated intense opposition from community members. Advanced Power, a Switzerland-based private energy infrastructure company, will own and operate the plant. It will receive out-of-state fracked gas through the Iroquois Gas Transmission System, a pipeline project co-owned by TransCanada and the Virginia-based fossil fuel powerhouse Dominion Resources. The Cricket Valley Energy Center (CVEC) is a 1,100 megawatt plant under construction in Dover Plains, New York.
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