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FRANKFURT — Greenpeace paraglided onto the European Central Bank tower on Wednesday morning demanding the central bank stops funding “climate killers.”
“We can confirm that two activists landed by powered paraglider on the roof of one of the ECB’s buildings and unfurled a banner. Police are informed and on site. Our main priority is the safety of the people involved,” an ECB spokeswoman said.
Another paraglider circled the building with a fluttering banner reading: “Act on climate now.”
Activists breached security to put up the banner, after Greenpeace and the New Economic Foundation published a report overnight calling for a radical overhaul of the central bank’s collateral framework to exclude bonds from carbon-intensive companies.
Collateral rules define which assets the ECB accepts as securities against loans in lending operations. The eligibility rules for the ECB’s quantitative easing program are also guided by the framework.
“Carbon bias is rife at the European Central Bank. Instead of favouring fossil fuels, the ECB must at once exclude these toxic assets and change the rules to tackle the climate emergency we live in,” Greenpeace International executive director Jennifer Morgan said.
“The ECB is conducting a review of its strategy which includes an in depth analysis of how to respond to the climate crisis across all ECB policy areas,” the ECB spokeswoman said.
ECB policymakers, including President Christine Lagarde, have acknowledged that collateral rules may need an overhaul, but have stopped short of suggesting they could exclude fossil fuel companies’ bonds from the list of eligible bonds.
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