The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the largest intact ecosystems in the world. Located on Alaska’s North Slope, bordering the Arctic Ocean, the Refuge is home to caribou, polar bears, muskoxen and wolves. It is the breeding ground for millions of migratory birds that visit the Refuge from all 50 US states and every continent. Encompassing 19 million roadless acres, the Refuge is vast yet fragile.
Risk of Fossil Fuel Development
Fossil fuel companies having been trying for decades to get the Refuge opened for oil and gas drilling, while Green Century has been pushing back for more than 20 years to keep the Refuge wild and protected. Any industrial development in the Refuge would devastate the natural landscape and the wildlife populations that depend upon it.
Fossil fuel development would bring roads, buildings, noise, and air pollution. The impact would be felt particularly strongly by the Porcupine Caribou herd, which travels hundreds of miles across the tundra to have their young in the quiet of the Coastal Plain. If the Coastal Plain is developed, there will be few places left for them to go.
The First of Four Lease Sales
Until now, advocacy from NGOs, Green Century and other investors, as well as political leaders has kept the Refuge free from the industrial activity of oil and gas drilling. But that could change. The most recent federal budget mandated four lease sales for oil and gas development in the Refuge. The first of these was held on June 5, and three more are required to be held in the coming years.
Meanwhile, America’s largest banks, under pressure from federal regulators, have weakened policies that previously protected the Refuge, raising the possibility that they would facilitate the billions of dollars of funding needed to exploit it for fossil fuels.
Green Century’s Work to Protect the Refuge
But the drilling hasn’t started yet, and Green Century is working with a diverse coalition to make sure it never does.
As an investor, Green Century can bring financial arguments against drilling in the Refuge to banks, insurers, and oil companies. Our message is simple: drilling for oil in the Refuge doesn’t make financial sense. The remote location and harsh operating conditions make the Arctic one of the most expensive and riskiest places to drill for oil in the world. And it takes a long time, more than a decade, for any gas or other fuel to reach the market from new developments in the Arctic.
A decade from now, we will be living in a very different world. We are on a clear trajectory towards decarbonization and clean energy. Drilling in the Refuge won’t address today’s energy problems or be needed to meet tomorrow’s energy needs.
Green Century has brought together investors from around the world to deliver this message, including private investment managers, public pension funds and religious investors – all told, a group with more than $3 trillion under management. So far this year, we’ve held meetings with senior executives at America’s largest banks to convey to them – the risks of financing activity that could harm the Refuge, and the inevitability of the clean energy transition.
We’ll keep you posted on developments in our efforts to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In the meantime, you can take action by signing this petition from a coalition of stakeholders from around the country working to protect this special place.to protect this special place.
— Andrew Shalit, Shareholder Advocate