Today Oil Free Otago and 350.org will be at the ANZ bank, 71 George St, to present a letter to the manager asking ANZ to stop sponsoring deep sea drilling.“ANZ is using its customers’ money to sponsor deep sea drilling” said Oil Free Otago spokesperson Rosemary Penwarden.ANZ bank is sponsoring the Advantage New Zealand Petroleum Summit, to be held at Sky City at the end of March, where Energy Minister Simon Bridges will launch the 2015 Block Offer.

This is the third time ANZ has been targeted this week. ANZ Christchurch was yesterday visited by climate activists holding banners and demanding ANZ stop sponsoring the Petroleum Summit. In Auckland, helium-filled black balloons werereleased inside the bank. Stranded against the bank’s ceiling they represented carbon bubbles; future stranded assets of the fossil fuel industry.

“Scientists say we cannot burn most of the already discovered oil, gas and coal and still keep global warming to two degrees” said Ms Penwarden “yet ANZ is using our money to help the petroleum industry look for more! ANZ is sponsoring climate change.”

“ANZ say they are responding to climate change because it poses serious risks to the environment, to the economy and to their clients. But to the oil industry ANZ say they are committed to supporting deep sea drilling. They can’t have it both ways.”

“We are calling on the ANZ Bank NOT to sponsor the NZ Petroleum Summit. We are calling on ANZ to divest from fossil fuels. It’s their customers’ money, so customers have a say in how their banks shape our future. ANZ: stop sponsoring climate change.”
ENDS

OilFreeOtago@gmail.com