Wells Fargo: Green or Mean? (Aug 2006)

By Andrea Wolf

The Haight Street Wells Fargo branch recently became the city's first bank to earn a “Green Business” certificate from the San Francisco Department of the Environment. But exemplary recycling and conservation programs at one location cannot excuse the bank’s deep involvement in environmentally destructive projects all over the world, insist leaders of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN).

With $492 billion in assets and more than 6,200 locations nationwide, Wells Fargo is San Francisco’s biggest private employer. It is also the largest U.S. bank currently operating without corporate policies tying investment decisions to environmental sustainability, RAN leaders say. The banking giant has sunk billions of dollars in controversial oil and coal exploration projects in the Amazon River basin, Alaska, West Virginia and Kentucky—“investments of mass destruction,” RAN calls them—and the environmental group is determined to let the public know.

RAN has plastered the Bay Area, including the Haight, with posters reading “Wells Fargo: Lootin’ and Pollutin’ Since 1852.” The San Francisco-based group picketed the bank’s corporate headquarters at 420 Montgomery Street at least twice last month, and mounted mass protests in April outside the annual shareholders meeting.

On its global finance campaign website, www.dirtymoney.org, RAN argues that Wells Fargo, which brands itself with an old-fashioned stage coach, must "get on the wagon."

"As Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs lead the industry in defining environmentally and socially responsible banking practices for the 21st century, Wells Fargo remains committed to a 'Wild West' world of irresponsible and exploitative lending practices better suited to the 19th century than to the present," says RAN.

Wells Fargo spokesman Chris Hammond insists that the bank “absolutely cares and has concern for the environment.” He points to the creation in March of an eight-member environmental advisory board through which academics, along with representatives from business and non-profit groups, will aid the bank in integrating sound ecological and business practices.
In addition, Hammond points to the introduction in June of innovative envelope-free ATMs and a 10-Point Environmental Commitment program the bank unveiled last year that includes a “$1 billion pledge in lending and other financial commitments by 2010 in environmentally beneficial business opportunities … (and a) $5 million investment in the Carlyle/Riverstone Renewable Energy Infrastructure Fund.”

The “green certified’ branch at 1746 Haight Street is a proud achievement, Hammond said. However, he declined to respond to RAN’s criticisms concerning the bank’s relationship with controversial oil and coal companies, saying only that Wells Fargo’s standard for investing is to partner with “businesses (that) comply with all applicable laws.”

RAN organizer Scott Parkin was not so reticent.

Conserve Locally, Pollute Globally?

“It seems like Wells Fargo is ‘greenwashing’ to try and look like an environmentally friendly company, when we know for a fact they invest in destructive companies in the Appalachian mountains, Ecuador and Alaska,” Parkin said.

Parkin said one of the bank’s most egregious investments involves a $175 million stake in Massey Energy, which practices a particularly destructive, low-cost method of coal mining known as “mountaintop removal” in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky.

Mountaintop removal works pretty much the way it sounds: a mountain is clear cut, then blown to pieces with dynamite to expose the coal inside. The practice has filled thousands of miles of Appalachian streams and rivers with toxic coal sludge, contaminating the land and drinking water. The practice lays waste to entire mountain ecosystems, leaving no prospects for the future development of natural or economic resources.

“The coal mining here is America’s dirty little secret,” said Judy Bonds, a West Virginian member of the Coal River Mountain Watch. Bond told of a 165 foot-tall Massey Energy coal silo and processing plant that stands 200 yards from Marsh Fork Elementary School, where several inches of black coal dust have reportedly piled up on the playground and fouled the school’s ventilation system.

“I just don’t see how Wells Fargo can claim to be ‘green’ when they fund Massey Energy,” Bonds argued. “Every ton of coal they get from these mountains has our blood on it.”

Massey Energy represents but a fraction of Wells Fargo’s $4 billion holdings in fossil fuels, according to Security and Exchange Commission filings records.

Nor is Massey Energy its only “problem child.”

Wells Fargo also has a stake in Burlington Resources (recently acquired by ConocoPhillips), which has drawn heavy fire for its plans to drill for oil in remote regions of Ecuador and Peru. Exploring for oil in these areas will severely disrupt the Amazon River Basin ecosystem, destroying animal habitats, accelerating deforestation and losses of biodiversity, as well as displacing indigenous peoples, according to the non-profit group Amazon Watch.

It’s Not Easy Being Green

While the global practices of Wells Fargo draw critical, even angry scrutiny, the efforts of the Haight Street branch are earning praise from the city.
Winning a “Green Business” certificate from the city is no simple thing, explains Sushma Dhulipala, commercial toxics reduction coordinator for the San Francisco Department of the Environment.

“It takes a lot of commitment,” she points out. “The Haight Street branch has committed to our four standards for a Green Business: conserving energy, water conservation, recycling of all paper waste as well as bottles, and the use of low-toxin cleaners.”

Only a handful of local banks have even signed up to start the process and, to date, only Wells Fargo's Haight Street banch has won certification, Dhulipala said.

But RAN says Wells Fargo is still far behind its competitors. In January 2004, Citibank and Rain Forest Action Network joined hands to announce new bank policies that will raise the standard for financial institutions committed to protecting the environment.

“Citigroup has articulated the strongest environmental policies yet of any private financial institution in the world,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network. “With this move, Citigroup joins a growing family of leading companies that are working to transform humanity’s greatest challenges into new opportunities for a sustainable future. This moment marks a milestone in worldwide movement to stop global warming and deforestation. We cannot overstate the importance of changing such a vast enterprise and look forward to working together with Citigroup in the coming years.”

In May, Bank of America vowed to lead the finance industry in reducing climate-changing gas emissions by collaborating with the Washington D.C.-based World Resources Institute on a series of initiatives.

To continue muckraking online, visit:

SF Green Business Program: sfenvironment.com/greenbiz
Wells Fargo environmental policy: wellsfargo.com/about/csr/ea
Amazon Watch:: amazonwatch.org
Coal River Mountain Watch: webpages.charter.net/crmw
Rainforest Action Network: ran.org, dirtymoney.org