2023-04-24 15:34:59
Climate activists, including some from the Extinction Rebellion movement, disrupted ING’s general shareholders’ meeting in Amsterdam on Monday, protesting the Dutch bank’s fossil fuel investments. The meeting had to be suspended. Police arrested a protester.
Climate activists held up banners and called on ING to stop ‘funding the climate crisis’. They also stamped their feet on the ground and repeatedly sang a song calling for an end to the use of fossil fuels. A climate activist, who whistled and shouted that he would stay put until the bank stopped fossil investing, was led away by police.
Several demonstrators holding ING shares were physically present in the room during the shareholders’ meeting. They repeatedly asked whether the bank would do everything possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 45% by 2030 compared to 2019. A question met with loud applause and shouts of joy in the room.
The same strategy had already been employed at Ahold Delhaize, where there too environmental activists had attended the general meeting of shareholders.
Steven van Rijswijk, the boss of ING, assured Monday that the bank was listening to criticism. However, the energy transition needs time, he stressed. According to him, the bank’s policy is in line with the climate objectives of the Paris agreement, but a balance must be found between these objectives and the safeguarding of the energy supply. The bank works for this with companies, governments, regulators, climate scientists and also environmental movements.
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