Rick Astley and friends tell ANZ “Divestment is what I’m thinking of.”

Over the last 24 hours, there have been several actions at ANZ branches throughout Dunedin, because of ANZ's investments in coal, oil and gas. This is a part of a global wave of climate action between May 5th and 13th calling on institutions to stop funding fossil fuel projects. The action follows climate action taken in Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington earlier this week.

“After exhausting all possible options communicating with ANZ, community members decided to show ANZ why it is important to invest in a safe future, rather than continuing to fund climate change”, said Charlie Montague, 350 Dunedin spokesperson.

Last night in South Dunedin ANZ branch the group projected images of the Great Barrier Reef on the ANZ building. This was to show the connection between ANZ’s money and the ecosystems damaged by the coal, oil and gas projects that ANZ is funding. This morning the group dropped a banner over ANZ Bank on George Street saying, “ANZ Stop funding coal, oil and gas. We won’t give up ‘til you do!”

Yet another group of concerned citizens flooded an ANZ branch on Hanover Street saying, “ANZ isn’t giving up on fossil fuels and until they do, we’re not going to give up on them.” They danced to the iconic 80s single, “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Mr Rick Astley to highlight their message.

Following this, a cross-section of community members joined together to create an enormous piece of art. On it, they wrote their individual reasons for taking climate action.

“It’s time for ANZ to show bravery and challenge the status quo by actually moving their money out of all coal, oil and gas projects. There are no excuses for not taking strong action to prevent climate change, especially when they are the largest bank in the Pacific", said Montague.

“ANZ does have the power to change their ethical investments policy to exclude fossil fuels. This would be the responsible decision and would show leadership among banks. As ANZ view that their fossil fuel investments are negligible, divestment should be an easy thing to do", Montague added.

ANZ does not have an ethical investments policy that excludes funding coal, oil and gas. This contradicts their public commitments to keep climate change below 2 degrees Celsius.

As ANZ’s Chairman, Mr Mike Gonski states, “We know it is our actions that count, not whether we are simply saying the ‘right’ things.”

350 Dunedin has made it publicly clear that they are not going to give up on ANZ until ANZ gives up on fossil fuels.

ENDS.

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