Plastering Against Greenwashing:
Scientist Rebellion Sticks Scientific Facts About LNG on Deutsche Bank's Quartier Zukunft
On Wednesday, 9th of December, Scientist Rebellion used water-soluble glue to plaster large-format scientific publications about Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) on the windows of Deutsche Bank’s Quartier Zukunft. Deutsche Bank is part of the “Net Zero Banking Alliance,” which means it has pledged to make its business and its financing compatible with the Paris climate goals. However, Deutsche Bank’s massive financial support for fossil infrastructure –particularly LNG infrastructure– directly contradicts this pledge. With our peaceful protest, we aim to confront those responsible and the public with this greenwashing lie. To this end, we are delivering important scientific key statements about the environmental, social, and climate impacts of LNG directly to a location that Deutsche Bank itself markets as sustainable, and we demand that they stop systematically financing the destruction of our environment and future.
Scientifically, it is clear: LNG is neither sustainable nor a transition technology. It is worse than coal in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. [1] The massive expansion of LNG infrastructure endangers the energy transition and thus puts the agreed goals of the Paris Climate Agreement at risk. [2] Moreover, it exacerbates environmental racism and is socially unjust, as the negative consequences of environmental pollution and destruction disproportionately affect already disadvantaged communities of People of Color and Indigenous peoples. [3]
It is therefore disastrous that, especially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the resulting decline in Russian gas supplies to the Western world, Liquefied Natural Gas has experienced a real boom. This trend is analyzed in the latest report by Reclaim Finance. It highlights the involvement of major financial institutions in the financing of LNG infrastructure and shows that Germany’s largest financier in this area is Deutsche Bank. In the period 2021-2023 alone, it poured USD 3.9 billion into LNG infrastructure and companies. Deutsche Bank is also a major financier of five controversial LNG terminals in the Gulf of Mexico: Cameron LNG, Corpus Christi LNG, Freeport LNG, Plaquemines LNG, Sabine Pass LNG.
Each new LNG terminal is not only incompatible with the Paris climate goals but also poses a threat to the environment and human rights. A good summary of the influence of German banks on investments in American LNG infrastructure is the report “Investing in climate chaos” by Deutsche Umwelthilfe.
On their website, the head of Quartier Zukunft, Nadin Chucher, proudly proclaims:
Come in and experience banking of the future: here, many things are different, above all, many things have been further developed and show what banking of the future could look like. As digital as necessary, as human as possible!
Our goal is to create the conditions for a not only financially healthy future but also to support you with concern for the environment and sustainable living from our expert knowledge.
Various research results, of which we have selected only the three very striking ones cited above for our action, show that massive investments in and financing of Liquefied Natural Gas is neither compatible with “humanistic” banking nor with a healthy future. Therefore, Deutsche Bank needs to immediately cease its financial support for the expansion of LNG if it wants to maintain any semblance of integrity and credibility.
Background on non-violent Civil Disobedience
According to the latest report of the Global Carbon Project and the IPCC Synthesis Report 2023, achieving the below 1.5°C target of the Paris Climate Agreement has become virtually impossible. To reach this goal with about a coin toss chance, greenhouse gas emissions would need to fall to 57% of 2019 levels by 2030. Additionally, we must remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere on a large scale. A document that summarizes this information in an easily understandable way can be found here.
We already experience the effects of climate change today. Scientists are observing an increase in heatwaves, droughts, and floods not only in the much more severely affected Global South, but also in Europe.
Nevertheless, banks are not taking their social responsibility seriously. They continue to finance fossil infrastructure and companies that fuel global warming with fossil energy sources like gas, instead of accelerating the transition to a net-zero greenhouse gas world through financial flows. Only swift and decisive action can still mitigate the humanitarian, social, and economic consequences of the climate catastrophe.
Currently we are playing Russian roulette with our future!
Our Request: Talk About It!
Share the information: A vibrant democracy needs informed citizens. Otherwise, our democracy will be systematically undermined by the fossil lobby, by the climate catastrophe itself, and will lead to the erosion of our freedoms and those of our children.
Who Are We?
We are Scientist Rebellion: Academics who research and work in Germany, using civil resistance to advocate for climate justice.
You can find more information about us here.
Further Information and Campaigns against LNG Financing
NGOs and ThinkTanks that analyse the role of banking in financing fossil infrastructure
Campaigns against LNG in different countries:
Quellen
[1] Kemfert, Claudia, et al. “The expansion of natural gas infrastructure puts energy transitions at risk.” Nature Energy 7.7 (2022): 582-587. DOI
[2] Howarth, Robert W. “The greenhouse gas footprint of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exported from the United States.” Energy Science & Engineering (2024). DOI
[3] Donaghy, Timothy Q., et al. “Fossil fuel racism in the United States: How phasing out coal, oil, and gas can protect communities.” Energy Research & Social Science 100 (2023): 103104. DOI