A coalition of climate groups including 350, Extinction Rebellion and Climate Liberation Aotearoa took part in a protest against ANZ Bank’s carbon-neutral policies, outside its branch in George St yesterday at noon.
Climate Liberation activist Zenith Rose-Wills said he closed his ANZ account and chopped up his credit card on video as an act of protest.
"As a concerned citizen I am not happy with what they are doing and how they are investing."
He claimed ANZ had increased its investment in the fossil fuels industry by 140% in 2022 knowing the risks it poses to humanity.
"It’s the biggest of stakes.
"To not sugar-coat it, climate change is the end of humanity.
"I don’t want my money invested with that."
Climate Liberation activist Bruce Mahalski said the bank’s climate change commitment only went as far as to support its customers to become carbon neutral by 2050.
"It says nothing about their climate policies and it’s just absolute green-wash."
He said the demonstrators were not interested in breaking the law or annoying the public but things had become desperate.
An ANZ spokeswoman said climate change continued to be a priority for the bank, which included in particular supporting customers to reduce their climate impact and improve resilience by transitioning its lending to support a low-emissions climate resilient New Zealand.
ANZ NZ’s assessed lending to oil and gas was 0.12% of its total lending, and it did not fund fossil fuel exploration, the spokeswoman said.
Following the release of its first climate report this year, the bank was continuing to strengthen its climate governance, policies and processes, data and risk management capability in preparation for mandatory disclosure this year.
