Six Democratic senators sent a letter Wednesday to Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, criticizing him and his company for "backsliding" on the climate and environmental commitments the bank has made. The senators who signed the letter were Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
While the senators often speak about and campaign on environmental and
The letter comes after the release of a
"Your recent statements and actions indicate a retreat by JPM from the firm's earlier pledges to help mitigate climate change. This is disappointing, raising questions about the impact of these policy changes moving forward, and about whether JPM misled investors and the public when you made these commitments," the senators wrote to Dimon.
A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase declined to comment on the senators' letter.
Regarding the report from the Rainforest Action Network and other groups, a JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said the bank is the world's largest financier of both traditional and clean energy companies.
"We believe our data reflects our activities more comprehensively and accurately than estimates by third parties," the spokesperson said.
Key among the criticisms the senators made in their letter is that JPMorgan Chase recently exited the Climate Action 100+ and Equator Principles, two climate action coalitions the bank had previously joined. The bank was among
The senators also criticized recent Dimon statements made in the company's most recent letter to shareholders.
In his letter, Dimon talked about the need for "proper government action" in conquering climate change and lamented the lack of any technology that can "fill the gap between our 'aspirations' and the current trajectory of the world." Dimon concluded the thought by saying the bank would move away from using the word "commitment" with respect to climate goals.
"We are going to use the word 'commitment' much more reservedly in the future, clearly differentiating between aspirations we are actively striving toward and binding commitments," Dimon said in
In 2021, the bank made specific promises about reducing the greenhouse gasses emitted from sources it owned or controlled, and emissions associated with the purchase of electricity, steam, heat and cooling. Specifically, it committed to reducing these so-called
The bank has also made several specific commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions that it indirectly affects. This class of emissions, also known as
In October 2020, JPMorgan Chase announced it would review all the companies it funds or invests in, calculate how much greenhouse gas these entities emit per unit of output — for example, how much carbon dioxide is produced per ton of steel or unit of electricity — and reduce that so-called "emissions intensity" by roughly 30% per sector.
The sectors for which JPMorgan Chase has set these emissions intensity goals include energy, oil and gas operations, auto manufacturing, aviation, and others. For each sector, JPMorgan Chase says its emissions intensity reduction targets align with standards set by the International Energy Agency for the world to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
The senators criticized recent changes JPMorgan Chase made to its commitments on reducing oil and gas financing. The bank changed its reduction target from solely being about Scope 3 end uses of oil and gas to also encompassing the bank's financing of clean energy companies.
The bank
