Gendered and Racial Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Industry
in North America and Complicit Financial Institutions

The report explicitly exposes the role that financial institutions, including banks, asset managers, and insurance companies, play in preserving and perpetuating negative gender and racial impacts through focusing on 9 regional case studies, from the fracking fields Kern County in California to the recently approved Willow Project in the Western Arctic. The report spotlights Vanguard, BlackRock, Capital Group, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of America, and Liberty Mutual as primary financiers of harmful fossil fuel projects within the regional case studies. All seven of these financial institutions have voiced support of the Paris Agreement and human rights via statements or by signing various international frameworks, yet, these financial institutions continue to fund companies whose operations are disproportionately harming women and communities of color, while also violating Indigenous rights and furthering the climate crisis. 

 

Based on the analysis of first-hand women’s accounts, peer-reviewed scientific articles, and other published papers, this report identifies a myriad of links between the fossil fuel activity that particular financial institutions support and threats to the health and safety of African American/Black/African Diaspora, Indigenous, Latinas/Chicanas, and low-income women. The report advocates for financial institutions to immediately transition away from fossil fuels, and instead invest in a Just Transition, clean regenerative and renewable energy, accountability and justice within institutions, and community-led solutions.

 

In 2021, WECAN released the inaugural report. You can read the first edition report here. Read the second edition of the report, released in 2022 here.

​

For further inquiries contact katherine@wecaninternational.org.