Protestors will target the Lloyds Bank AGM in Edinburgh today (Thursday 15 May), accusing it of destroying people’s lives and fuelling climate change by bankrolling the global coal industry.
Date: Thursday 15 May
Time: 10.15am
Place: Edinburgh International Conference Centre, The Exchange, Edinburgh EH3 8EE
Lloyds has invested a total of £3.4 billion since 2009 in mining giants BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Glencore Xstrata, the companies behind the massive Cerrejón mine in Colombia. Cerrejón is the biggest coal mine in South America and is fiercely opposed by local people, including the indigenous Wayúu whose territory it has destroyed.
BHP Billiton, which alone has received £2.1 billion from Lloyds since 2009, plans to open coal mines across a vast area of the Indonesian rainforest.
Coal – By I, Nostrifikator
World Development Movement climate and energy campaigner Alex Scrivener said:
“The coal industry is destroying lives and livelihoods on every continent with the help of Lloyds and the other coal-addicted big banks. For the sake of the people suffering from coal mining, and the sake of the global climate, Lloyds should pull out of coal.”
Yasmin Romero Epiayu, a Wayúu woman from Colombia, said:
“We need a global campaign against these banks. They’re violating peoples’ fundamental rights. It’s not just Cerrejón. It’s happening in Indonesia too. It’s happening all over the world. They say they’re investing in development. But their money is contaminated with blood.”