What might actually be more infuriating than them doing this, is the fact that when it blows up in their face and they lose their investments, there will undoubtedly be back room deals to make sure tax payers bail them out. So congrats everyone, banks are probably gonna .... us twice.
Both parents lost their jobs during the 2008 crash and my dad ended up retiring because he could never find another job. So I’m all too familiar with being screwed over in order to save the wealthy banks…
It's not actually the taxpayers that pay for it at all. The US government can create new money from nothing, without having to collect any taxes first. If the banks need another bailout, the government can do it just as easily as they spend ~$1 trillion on the US military every year.
I can't stress enough how awesome it is that you actually provide actionable changes and ways to get involved. Also, credit unions are great, go join a local one.
If you like actionable changes then you may like my channel as well. I’m no where near as funny or engaging as Rollie, but hopefully you’d still find my stuff useful.
I’ve been a member of some local credit union for the past 8 years or so (I was part of one then switched to another last year) and I haven’t looked back nor would I be tempted to switch to a big bank. I wish that all banks would turn into locally owned credit unions and that all the fractional reserve banking assets would be invested into local initiatives, clean energy and causes that can spread the wealth around for all citizens, rather than a select few…
It boggles my mind how more people don't just switch to a credit union. Mine refunds ATM fees while Chase doesn't + adds their own $5 fee for out of network ATMs!! At least when I banked with them. Plus all the big banks are constantly in the news for shady lawsuits every few weeks. It's ridiculous. The solution is already out there, it works exactly the same as a bank to the customer, and you save money while helping the local community instead of oligarchic enterprises, with a credit union.
Man.. youtube itself responsible for a lot of CO2 emmissions by why you guys still here and uploading videos not siting in cold cave without electricity and heat?
@@maksimmuruev423 "why you guys still here and uploading videos not siting in cold cave without electricity and heat?" logical fallacy. So old and tired... you can try to minimize the damage you cause, without actually succeeding bringing about a total reduction to zero. Either you just like shaming people (possibly out of reactionary feelings from doing nothing yourself) or, you are effectively advocating doing nothing, because why try, we're all doomed. It's like saying people are hypocrites to the gym because they sit on a couch now and then...
Rollie, you are genuinely inspiring me to take action by seeking a degree in climate science myself. Thank you. As a previous computer engineer, it's hard for me to see how wasteful the industry I was in really is. Its nauseating the amount of climate brainwashing there even was in my CompTIA cert classes at college. You are an inspiring person, and every video you make gets me off my bum to make a difference. Peace and love to you, and all the folks in the comments.
Get off your computer then. Go look into how wasteful the process to build them and phones are and all consumer electronics. I am talking from mining resources all the way to end product in consumers hands. You would not be having this conversation without the modern industrial age, there is a reason the west had rapid innovative expansion in such a tiny time frame.
Sid is the person the future needs. Recycles, upcycles, and is inventive with found resources, treats animals well, and turns the lights off when he leaves a room. Toy story did him dirty.
Damn, I was only vaguely aware that some of my money left the bank at all, much less how much and the fact that it was going to undermine my kids' future. Been following this channel from the start and thought I had good ideas for what it should cover but those don't really fit the mold of what this channel has become and I couldn't be more pleased, every episode exposes huge hypocrisies that most people don't know about. Proud to support on Patreon, hope anyone reading this considers it too. Cheers, Rollie.
I recommend looking up how deep that rabbit hole goes with banks using you savings as their invesments. They actualy easily turn your like $5000 into $50000 of their money.
@@harleyboy5768 Solar is by far the cheapest energy source now, there is no reason to continue investing in fossil fuels, should be easy to just draw down FFs as enough renewables come online to replace them. And even if that weren't true I'd much rather that my kids have to deal with high energy prices than a Climate Crisis with droughts, famine, wars over water, 1 Billion+ climate refugees, etc. Kurtzgesagt's recent piece "We WILL Fix Climate Change!" th-cam.com/video/LxgMdjyw8uw/w-d-xo.html gives a very optimistic view of what should likely happen but also does a good job of acknowledging how borderline apocalyptical things would become if we don't do everything possible NOW.
EVERYONE SWITCH TO A CREDIT UNION RIGHT NOW! Ive been telling my friends to switch to credit unions for years, and it baffles me how many people dont do it. Its easy to find CUs that reimburse ATM fees, dont charge overdraft fees, etc. Basically they will save you money, and they dont fund eco-genocide. Srsly if you or your mom use a big bank just switch right now! Do it! Thanks for sharing this
@@extropiantranshuman I do but I have worked in banking for almost 30 years and there is nothing worse than the compliance burden on starting a CU. I have watched philanthropists go broke, and watched millionaires give up years of their lives trying to make it happen. It would be much better to find a local one and get on their board of directors.
Can we also pressure NerdWallet, CollegeInvestor, SmartAsset etc. to include the climate friendly banks in their top bank accounts lists? I've been reading those lists for a few years now and they all point to the same big banks. If any of them had listed Atmos Finance I would have switched years ago.
I think in most cases your local credit union would be a good place to bank. Of course the closest one to me was originally established for Shell employees so go figure
Switched from one of the four big US banks mentioned in this video to a local credit union. Was a pain in the ass but one of the best decisions I've made and absolutely no issues with service or technology. Also way better rates (2.5% on a checking account when certain criteria is met)
I love how basically every large corporation and most very rich people are destroying the planet, almost seems like their interests don't align with ours.
My theory is that it’s more of an inevitability. The average person will have values which hold them back. So you or I would save up enough money for a comfortable retirement and then stop. So we take ourselves out of the system. But some people don’t have this holding them back. They always want more. So they keep going forever and eventually engage in all the actions that we see big corporations doing. That’s why I’m all for some sort of regulation to force these people to limit their emissions. I don’t foresee any future where they voluntarily do it to themselves.
@dropkick oh they DO care about their kids. Thats why they leave em huge inheritances and keep them from ever having to work hard and spoil them from the day they were born and teach them the ways of the elites so their children can carry on the elite legacy. They just dont care about YOUR kids.
when disasters strike, the rich have the money and will be ok, and the poor will suffer, that is true for individuals and also for countries, so why the rich have to care at all?
as a wealthy individual I don't see how climate change will affect me personally. I can just move whereever etc. And since many people don't give a fuck about others their interests in fact don't align.
@@JoelRipke Plus your Mortgage can be chopped into a Mortgage-Backed Security that your bank can then sell into the investment industry at large (this did get some needed regulation after the 2008 crash)
Only of you bought your house from someone without a mortgage; otherwise its just being handed to another bank. But also if that person keeps the money in a bank same place.
That's a new low for me, I would have never guessed! At first glance I thought there wasn't much in it for banks because of the time it would take, but there is massive incentive to loan to oil companies when you live in car infested USA/North America. Thank you for bringing awareness to this! Work like yours make us wiser by the day! 🌻
I love this guy... brilliant. My bank Santander suggest their fossil fuel loans are less than 1% of the loan portfolio. However that last year was they say $9.7 billion ...phew!!!!
Thanks to the links in the description, I learned my bank is not currently financing fossil fuels, but I will be keeping an eye on them. Thank you for the resources. This is not something I would have thought about.
If you're in the UK and looking for an ethical bank, there's Triodos UK. They're great at letting you know where your money is going (if you want to be kept informed). There is a £3 a month fee but hey, in my mind at least, that ain't that much when you consider what they are doing.
I felt almost insulted when you pointed out so vehemently that MY money was also the problem but thankfully it's stashed at La Banque Postale. Worst customer service ever though
A lot of these corporations think that going green means using renewable energy for their offices and server rooms. But anything that actually affects their core business is "Scope 3 emissions" and not something they want to deal with as it might actually affect profits. Microsoft and Amazon cloud computing is a great example of this - a lot of machine learning is being driven by the oil and gas industries searching for new resources.
That part at 9:00 where you pull down the tree branch so I can’t see what’s going on across the street cracked me up! Cause I was totally looking across the street and not at you. 😂
He didn't pull down the branch to cover the street, but to UNCOVER the Chase logo. Unless this was some joke that went flying past my head like a jet airplane LOL
You make the religious themed restaurant joke, but I used to work near a grilled cheese food truck named 'Cheesus Murphy and the Grateful Bread'. It was delicious, and I was sad when it closed.
Just thought I'd point out that Amazon's credit card (that gives you 'points' towards purchases for a % of your card expenses...like airline miles but for boxes of stuff) uses CHASE as their card management company. So there's another avenue for PR reprisal. EG "Hey Amazon, why is your company using the #1 climate destroying bank to run your brand credit card?" Also, local credit unions are great generally, but most of them store THEIR money with the big banks. You take your money out of Wells Fargo, bring it to a CU, deposit it....there's a good chance at least a quarter of their assets are held by larger banks, another % will be invested into securities (which may include fossil fuel companies), and their banking services are probably provided by other major financial institutions (like Visa for their debit card transactions, etc.). That said, 10-40%-ish is a crap-ton better than 100%, and every little bit helps. Thanks for doing the research on Atmos, I'm looking into them now.
A year later.. but how was your research into atmos, I've been checking them out for a while now. I also been using treecard alongside the tree counter thing since that got a lot of fundraising. I dont know if they use plastic for their cards but Atmos should look into using metal or wood. A partership between them would be nice but idealistic lol. I know they are releasing a credit card soon next year and helping with home loans soon.
To whoever reading this , never stop chasing your dreams you can do it . Keep pressing and thriving you will make it ! Consistency is the key to achieve your goals
That defense of Sid was great and totally convinced me. Also: great video. I really needed my mood lifting after Rollie told me about this big problem to fix: knobs using our money to fund environmental damage...
Well there's a similarity in appearance, perhaps Climate Town = Sid? I know Sid was experimenting with recording, perhaps a pre-text for the YoutTube career.
A major thing that frustrates me is that my work doesn’t have an ESG option for my 401k. That’s the largest stack of cash that I have and I’m forced to invest it in a fund that supports fossil fuels!
I have some fairly good news: The money you put in a 401k goes to the funds you elect, not to the bank itself. In this instance, the bank is acting as your broker. The only exceptions are Money Market/CDs/Savings if they're provided by that bank and the fees they collect for managing various funds. The mutual funds/bonds themselves may include fossil fuel companies (or those that support them) so you can do some research if you'd like to avoid those. Unfortunately, 401ks tend to have a pretty limited selection so it's not always possible to go 100% green. Regardless, it's not that dire and you have the tools to minimize your impact.
Ya I hate that pension funds are generally run without any input from the benefactors, to the point where a unions own savings will be divested from thier company and they lose thier job. Should be a real smoking gun that we live in a "free market" where most people aren't allowed to decide how thier savings are used.
@@TokenSelf yea that’s my point. All the options available to me seem to include fossil fuels. Maybe I just haven’t looked enough though. I’ll check again.
Great video! I did a little research into the bank I currently have my accounts with (ING, from the Netherlands). Turns out they put about 75% of all their energy investments (about 6.8 billion euros worth) into the fossil fuel industry. All the while pretending to be committed to fighting climate change, and setting all sorts of goals for themselves. Shameful, and I kick myself for never knowing this before. Will most definitely be changing banks a.s.a.p!
Yup, that’ll definitely work /s But in all seriousness, I’m sure it varies from one institution to another. Some do have ESG funds which you can stick your money in, but they have more risk of losing value than a basic savings account.
Its such important, and often obscured information, delivered in such a clear and genuinely funny format. I'm 100% a new fan. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and for sharing.
Great video on a poorly or not at all understood subject in the general public. Having watched this, I immediately went and looked up what my local credit union invests and fund and I'm happy to see that their "climate pledges" seem to be legit, and they do not fund any fossil fuel energy sector companies. They break down their GHG emissions by tonne and by category, and it seems their biggest contributor is mortgages and new housing construction. That Atmos bank looks pretty great; I wish we had an equivalent in Canada, but I also like that my credit union is one of the good ones.
On the other hand. If you drew up a list of unacceptable investments, and I drew up a list, they'd both be different. Then there's questions like if shell wants to borrow money to build wind turbines. Is that ok because it's wind turbines, or not because it's shell? If I start a business and buy non green electricity should I be allowed a loan, or not because I'm propping up the fossil fuel industry? If steel is impossible to make (currently) in a green way, should we just stop funding steel production? Or should we fund it because we need it, or fund it to help it become greener? In short I'm not sure it is for banks to be fixing this by themselves. They are literally the underpinning of capitalism, and fossil fuels are currently the underpinning of the world's economy.
@@benholroyd5221Exactly, people are making too much of this. If you really want to keep your money out of everything you disagree with, open a brokerage account and buy the bonds of only the triple A rated companies you gully agree with, and accept that those bonds may not trade at the same price before they come due if interest rates jump between then and now. That is certainly more difficult for the majority of folks, especially the ones who blindly despise capitalism without even understanding it.
Although this is bad, and we should shake them into not investing in fossil fuels, what is worse is that public tax dollars still subsidized the fossil fuel industry heavily. The private sector is tying to make money, the public sector shouldn’t be doing this anymore for any reason (except to keep it going until we are able to transition over to green energy successfully).
10:23 I was so surprised, I'm french and that's my bank! La banque postale. I was wondering about that since I've seen them claim multiple times that they are environmentally friendly when I logged in my bank account. Now I don't have to dig into anything, thanks!
I think you are one of the only few TH-cam channels I've watched 100% of the content on. You make talking about climate change and the fossil fuel industry interesting with perfect editing and timing. Always love to see new stuff, looking forward to the next
For UK instead of a credit union you can go to a Building Society (such as Nationwide which I use or your local one) which generally won't be invested in fossil fuels. For banks Triodos is fossil free as well. Ones to avoid in the UK in particular are Barclays and HSBC. When I cancelled Barclays over the phone they asked for a reason for account closure and logged it.
Triodos are socially responsible too - everyone pays a flat £3/month for their current account service (like most German banks), rather than stealing enormous overdraft fees from their poorest, most financially vulnerable customers (like most UK banks).
Rollie out here trying to be a pro basketball player yet he's only an average billiards player (probably because he is too dedicated to exposing how terribly these banks are making us believe they aren't a villain in climate change) Seriously how do you pump out these videos, host a podcast, graduate school, and still have time to shoot at the table. You are truly an inspiration!
As an environmental science teacher, I greatly appreciate your content. Gives me great stuff to share with students. Plus, you bleep the worst curse words, so I don't have to worry about that either! Thanks for the great content
dude thank you so much for making these videos they make it so much easier to get my friends and family to understand what's going on and what we can do about it
Great work as always Rollie! As an environmental geoscience student I acknowledge that I can know the science, perform the USGS studies, or clean up the industrial effluent all day long, but at the end the day it's science communicators like you that give us a sliver of a chance of making systemic change.
Every time you upload a video I'm like "Oh yay!" but then right after clicking I'm like "Oh no..." such awful subject matter but such great content. Keep it up Rollie. 👍🏻
Excellent as always. I never really thought about what my bank does with my money. I will check them out, and if they are funding the oil industry, I'll move my money to another less harmful bank.
Hey Rollie, I got a commercial that seemed to be a PSA for plastic recycling during this vid. It was from “The Campaign for Recycling Awareness” (obviously some plastic industry bullshit). Anyway, as a loyal viewer I just thought you should know they’re advertising misinformation on your channel. Not sure if there’s anything you can do about it but thought you should know it’s happening. Keep up the great work!
I also switched to a "better" bank a few years ago. (regional bank, EU) based on research one could reasonably do. (online comparison websites). Their app and website suck, but at least (according to comparison websites) they are funding local projects, pay fair wages, etc.
I saw multiple Bank & Natural Gas commercials while watching this telling me how my life is about to get better because of their efforts. It's like a union buster thing from Amazon telling me not to buy into "the lies". Weird.
I checked out Atmos and it seems like a pretty good enviormentaly friendly bank so I would deffinatley reccomend people keep their money in that bank, the 5% cash back is very generous also.
Not only is this a major issue within banking but if the US 401k system is anything like our Australian's Superannuation, then a metric butt ton of your retirement/investment money is going directly into buying shares in these fossil fuel companies too!!
Spent this whole video thinking about how I was going to helpfully tell everyone about Atmos at the end, only to find out that you already had it covered! So since you’ve got that I’ll add, if you’re investing beyond a bank account look at the VOTE ETF. It buys all the companies in the S&P 500 and votes for climate action at their annual board meetings. Maybe that’s your next vid?
Great video! I’ve used a local credit union for nearly two decades, they’re great on lending to low income people in my city. But we pay for everything we can via credit cards - unfortunately all are issued by these major banks, plus Discover & American Express. We pay off each every month, but they make money off our swipe fees. Atmos looks great, wish they issued a credit card.
I love these "by 2050" goals. That's over a generation away. Everyone in charge now will be retired then. Prediction! In 2048, they will report "they still have some ways to go," and in 2049 they will withdraw.
Exactly. I’m way more trusting of someone who gives me a small goal and commits to completing it by the end of 2022 vs someone who has a big giant goal and says it’ll be done by 2050. They’re so obviously just kicking the van down the road.
Generation... Well thats for us zoomers to deal with. Even there were going to be bloody 50. God.... But hopefully by then all the boomers are dead thus meaning we can possibly make actual progress.
When I was a kid, I asked my mother why banks are able to pay us interest, since I thought that they can't make money from just storing our money in their vault. Her answer was that the banks are using the money we store to be borrowed by others, and takes a profit from the interest from the loans. It was a surprising fact back then. It turns out that our money in bank isn't just being stored behind the 12-inch thick steel door and collecting dust!
A quick google told me there is a bank called triodos focused on ethical lending, and otherwise building societies like nationwide, or coop are good bets
UK banks are ring-fenced, so your money will likely never be going to fossil fuel loans. Essentially, there's a bank holding company with two parts - an investment bank and a retail bank. Money does not flow between these two divisions by law. The vast majority of the fossil fuel lending is done by the investment bank. So keep your money where it is most convenient for you, because pulling it out will have no impact.
I remember the day I learned banks weren't vaults and safety deposit boxes. I wanted to keep my $2 bill safe and asked my parents to put it in the bank but they told me it wasn't then just sitting there for me.
Glad we had a nice local bank down the street growing up that I started at as soon as I could open an account, still with them and now with a couple credit unions too. Local banking is the way to go! Better interest on stuff like car loans anyways!
Might be interesting to look into whether divesting investment portfolios from fossil fuels has any measurable benefit. On one hand, buying stock in a company isn't giving money to the company, but on the other it does in theory raise the value of the company. Also, as you mentioned shareholders can vote on the trajectory of a company, so theoretically owning stock in fossil fuels could be a net positive if enough shareholders decided they wanted to change the direction of the company. But I'm sure the reality is more complex.
Another big way to help the environment is to take your money out of the bank, and put it in Wall Street, that way your money is 100% going to the companies in competition with Oil and Gas. There's hundreds of companies that provide Solar and Wind and many other projects. My personal favorite is Next Era Energy (wind turbines).
Yea, it’s always frustrating when a video gets me all riled up and angry and totem just ends. So glad he gives me ideas on small changes I can make and causes I can support in order to try to help.
Insurance companies do the same. And it's not just fossil fuels, it's also weapons, etc. Tips for Dutches for banks: Triodos and ASN bank; for insurance companies: ASR is pretty good!
What might actually be more infuriating than them doing this, is the fact that when it blows up in their face and they lose their investments, there will undoubtedly be back room deals to make sure tax payers bail them out. So congrats everyone, banks are probably gonna .... us twice.
Both parents lost their jobs during the 2008 crash and my dad ended up retiring because he could never find another job. So I’m all too familiar with being screwed over in order to save the wealthy banks…
Twice? I think the times banks have fucked us is in the tens of thousands by now
Heads up I think you might be missing a word at the end of your comment
It's not actually the taxpayers that pay for it at all. The US government can create new money from nothing, without having to collect any taxes first. If the banks need another bailout, the government can do it just as easily as they spend ~$1 trillion on the US military every year.
should let them swing like Iceland did.
I can't stress enough how awesome it is that you actually provide actionable changes and ways to get involved. Also, credit unions are great, go join a local one.
If you like actionable changes then you may like my channel as well. I’m no where near as funny or engaging as Rollie, but hopefully you’d still find my stuff useful.
I’ve been a member of some local credit union for the past 8 years or so (I was part of one then switched to another last year) and I haven’t looked back nor would I be tempted to switch to a big bank.
I wish that all banks would turn into locally owned credit unions and that all the fractional reserve banking assets would be invested into local initiatives, clean energy and causes that can spread the wealth around for all citizens, rather than a select few…
@@SaveMoneySavethePlanet Subbed!!
Yes, I love my credit union. No idea why everyone keeps giving their money to these slimy companies, they must just not know about credit unions!
It boggles my mind how more people don't just switch to a credit union. Mine refunds ATM fees while Chase doesn't + adds their own $5 fee for out of network ATMs!! At least when I banked with them. Plus all the big banks are constantly in the news for shady lawsuits every few weeks. It's ridiculous. The solution is already out there, it works exactly the same as a bank to the customer, and you save money while helping the local community instead of oligarchic enterprises, with a credit union.
We need more awareness on how banks are literally financing climate change. Really great work Rollie!
They finance everything far right.
Based banks 💪🗿
Man.. youtube itself responsible for a lot of CO2 emmissions by why you guys still here and uploading videos not siting in cold cave without electricity and heat?
I prefer warm weather.
@@maksimmuruev423 "why you guys still here and uploading videos not siting in cold cave without electricity and heat?"
logical fallacy. So old and tired...
you can try to minimize the damage you cause, without actually succeeding bringing about a total reduction to zero.
Either you just like shaming people (possibly out of reactionary feelings from doing nothing yourself) or, you are effectively advocating doing nothing, because why try, we're all doomed.
It's like saying people are hypocrites to the gym because they sit on a couch now and then...
Rollie, you are genuinely inspiring me to take action by seeking a degree in climate science myself. Thank you. As a previous computer engineer, it's hard for me to see how wasteful the industry I was in really is. Its nauseating the amount of climate brainwashing there even was in my CompTIA cert classes at college. You are an inspiring person, and every video you make gets me off my bum to make a difference. Peace and love to you, and all the folks in the comments.
Ayyy, thanks so much. I'm very happy to hear that.
Get off your computer then. Go look into how wasteful the process to build them and phones are and all consumer electronics. I am talking from mining resources all the way to end product in consumers hands. You would not be having this conversation without the modern industrial age, there is a reason the west had rapid innovative expansion in such a tiny time frame.
@@corail53 what a dumb argument, we NEED computers to end climate change.
Just pay off your loans and don’t beg for the government to waive them.
@@neuuser7071 with what money?
Sid is the person the future needs. Recycles, upcycles, and is inventive with found resources, treats animals well, and turns the lights off when he leaves a room. Toy story did him dirty.
Is he vegan?
@@Monkehrawrrr prolly
@@Monkehrawrrr with any luck
Recycling is a farce as well. We need to buy stuff made out of biodegradable packaging if possible
@@woah3510 I doubt it. Would a vegan really be happy feeding fresh meat to their pets?
Damn, I was only vaguely aware that some of my money left the bank at all, much less how much and the fact that it was going to undermine my kids' future. Been following this channel from the start and thought I had good ideas for what it should cover but those don't really fit the mold of what this channel has become and I couldn't be more pleased, every episode exposes huge hypocrisies that most people don't know about. Proud to support on Patreon, hope anyone reading this considers it too. Cheers, Rollie.
@@alexisfy friend I think they’re saying “join me in supporting [rollie] on patreon”. Because they like this channel that much.
@@whitneyschmitney humm, you are right. I take that back. Thanks for telling me. I'll be erasing my comment.
I recommend looking up how deep that rabbit hole goes with banks using you savings as their invesments. They actualy easily turn your like $5000 into $50000 of their money.
Are you that naive about banking? How's your kids future if energy costs soar? It will take decades to transition off fossil fuels.
@@harleyboy5768 Solar is by far the cheapest energy source now, there is no reason to continue investing in fossil fuels, should be easy to just draw down FFs as enough renewables come online to replace them. And even if that weren't true I'd much rather that my kids have to deal with high energy prices than a Climate Crisis with droughts, famine, wars over water, 1 Billion+ climate refugees, etc. Kurtzgesagt's recent piece "We WILL Fix Climate Change!" th-cam.com/video/LxgMdjyw8uw/w-d-xo.html gives a very optimistic view of what should likely happen but also does a good job of acknowledging how borderline apocalyptical things would become if we don't do everything possible NOW.
EVERYONE SWITCH TO A CREDIT UNION RIGHT NOW! Ive been telling my friends to switch to credit unions for years, and it baffles me how many people dont do it. Its easy to find CUs that reimburse ATM fees, dont charge overdraft fees, etc. Basically they will save you money, and they dont fund eco-genocide. Srsly if you or your mom use a big bank just switch right now! Do it!
Thanks for sharing this
I've been trying to start a vegan credit union if anyone wants to help!
Yay credit unions!
Limit services on credit union
Credit Unions also didn't do 2008 and they have much more minor scandals, if they have any at all.
@@extropiantranshuman I do but I have worked in banking for almost 30 years and there is nothing worse than the compliance burden on starting a CU. I have watched philanthropists go broke, and watched millionaires give up years of their lives trying to make it happen. It would be much better to find a local one and get on their board of directors.
Can we also pressure NerdWallet, CollegeInvestor, SmartAsset etc. to include the climate friendly banks in their top bank accounts lists? I've been reading those lists for a few years now and they all point to the same big banks. If any of them had listed Atmos Finance I would have switched years ago.
I think in most cases your local credit union would be a good place to bank. Of course the closest one to me was originally established for Shell employees so go figure
The reason is that atmos is pretty new so they are worried it could mess things up
@@mrcheese6247yup, look at synapsefi & yotta right now.
Switched from one of the four big US banks mentioned in this video to a local credit union. Was a pain in the ass but one of the best decisions I've made and absolutely no issues with service or technology. Also way better rates (2.5% on a checking account when certain criteria is met)
What credit union is this?
@@lanekrarup Mine pays 2% ($500 min bal), FFCCU.
whats that?
Credit Unions are a really good option but it doesn’t solve this issue. They keep your money in one of the big banks. :/
"It sucks, and its happening. And it sucks that its happening."
Pure genius.
I love how basically every large corporation and most very rich people are destroying the planet, almost seems like their interests don't align with ours.
My theory is that it’s more of an inevitability. The average person will have values which hold them back. So you or I would save up enough money for a comfortable retirement and then stop. So we take ourselves out of the system.
But some people don’t have this holding them back. They always want more. So they keep going forever and eventually engage in all the actions that we see big corporations doing.
That’s why I’m all for some sort of regulation to force these people to limit their emissions. I don’t foresee any future where they voluntarily do it to themselves.
@dropkick oh they DO care about their kids. Thats why they leave em huge inheritances and keep them from ever having to work hard and spoil them from the day they were born and teach them the ways of the elites so their children can carry on the elite legacy. They just dont care about YOUR kids.
when disasters strike, the rich have the money and will be ok, and the poor will suffer, that is true for individuals and also for countries, so why the rich have to care at all?
as a wealthy individual I don't see how climate change will affect me personally. I can just move whereever etc. And since many people don't give a fuck about others their interests in fact don't align.
@@GOATMENTATOR do you really think there’s any part of the earth climate change won’t eventually reach
The hypocrisy gets more and more ridiculous every month, I'm glad you always give us ways to offset bad choices that lead us here in our small ways
So my massive mortgage is keeping money out of the fossil fuel industry. I’m pretty much a hero
Same. But they'll take the interest I pay them and invest in oil
@@JoelRipke very true
@@JoelRipke Plus your Mortgage can be chopped into a Mortgage-Backed Security that your bank can then sell into the investment industry at large (this did get some needed regulation after the 2008 crash)
Only of you bought your house from someone without a mortgage; otherwise its just being handed to another bank.
But also if that person keeps the money in a bank same place.
@@JoelRipke based
Okay this has nothing to do with anything, but I've been binging your videos all afternoon and you're awesome.
That's a new low for me, I would have never guessed! At first glance I thought there wasn't much in it for banks because of the time it would take, but there is massive incentive to loan to oil companies when you live in car infested USA/North America. Thank you for bringing awareness to this! Work like yours make us wiser by the day! 🌻
Climate town has quickly become one of my favourite channels on all of TH-cam!
Thank you for the incredible content Burt Reynolds!
Wait, are you saying we actually have money?
If you still have a kidney left, yes
Mr Beast!!! I love your channel!! Glad to see you here!! 🤭
@@Mr.Ramirez95 Close but different guy lol
@@mattpopovich Yea I know, that's the joke. Mr. Beat would understand. 🤣
@@Mr.Ramirez95 Ok, just making sure! 😅
I moved for work and have been considering transferring to a local credit union. This has been the push I needed, thanks
As someone who moved out when they were 16, it means a lot when you say "closest equivalent" when relating to "calling your mother" .
that branch grab sign reveal at 8:55 is pure art
I love this guy... brilliant. My bank Santander suggest their fossil fuel loans are less than 1% of the loan portfolio. However that last year was they say $9.7 billion ...phew!!!!
To be fair if the bank is giving Trillions of dollars worth of loans then $9.7 Billion will be 1% of the portfolio
The 2 minute set up for the snake in my boot joke was brilliant
Thanks to the links in the description, I learned my bank is not currently financing fossil fuels, but I will be keeping an eye on them. Thank you for the resources. This is not something I would have thought about.
If you're in the UK and looking for an ethical bank, there's Triodos UK. They're great at letting you know where your money is going (if you want to be kept informed). There is a £3 a month fee but hey, in my mind at least, that ain't that much when you consider what they are doing.
I felt almost insulted when you pointed out so vehemently that MY money was also the problem but thankfully it's stashed at La Banque Postale.
Worst customer service ever though
ahahah j'étais fier
A lot of these corporations think that going green means using renewable energy for their offices and server rooms. But anything that actually affects their core business is "Scope 3 emissions" and not something they want to deal with as it might actually affect profits. Microsoft and Amazon cloud computing is a great example of this - a lot of machine learning is being driven by the oil and gas industries searching for new resources.
Green washing
That part at 9:00 where you pull down the tree branch so I can’t see what’s going on across the street cracked me up! Cause I was totally looking across the street and not at you. 😂
He didn't pull down the branch to cover the street, but to UNCOVER the Chase logo.
Unless this was some joke that went flying past my head like a jet airplane LOL
You make the religious themed restaurant joke, but I used to work near a grilled cheese food truck named 'Cheesus Murphy and the Grateful Bread'. It was delicious, and I was sad when it closed.
Theirs a food truck near my work called "The Bapmobile" with a Lego Batman paintjob.
@@Tycoondashie That's amazing!
Just thought I'd point out that Amazon's credit card (that gives you 'points' towards purchases for a % of your card expenses...like airline miles but for boxes of stuff) uses CHASE as their card management company. So there's another avenue for PR reprisal. EG "Hey Amazon, why is your company using the #1 climate destroying bank to run your brand credit card?"
Also, local credit unions are great generally, but most of them store THEIR money with the big banks. You take your money out of Wells Fargo, bring it to a CU, deposit it....there's a good chance at least a quarter of their assets are held by larger banks, another % will be invested into securities (which may include fossil fuel companies), and their banking services are probably provided by other major financial institutions (like Visa for their debit card transactions, etc.).
That said, 10-40%-ish is a crap-ton better than 100%, and every little bit helps.
Thanks for doing the research on Atmos, I'm looking into them now.
A year later.. but how was your research into atmos, I've been checking them out for a while now. I also been using treecard alongside the tree counter thing since that got a lot of fundraising. I dont know if they use plastic for their cards but Atmos should look into using metal or wood. A partership between them would be nice but idealistic lol. I know they are releasing a credit card soon next year and helping with home loans soon.
To whoever reading this , never stop chasing your dreams you can do it . Keep pressing and thriving you will make it ! Consistency is the key to achieve your goals
That defense of Sid was great and totally convinced me. Also: great video.
I really needed my mood lifting after Rollie told me about this big problem to fix: knobs using our money to fund environmental damage...
Well there's a similarity in appearance, perhaps Climate Town = Sid? I know Sid was experimenting with recording, perhaps a pre-text for the YoutTube career.
Furthermore, Sid doesn’t know his toys are sentient. He doesn’t know he’s hurting anyone, just playing with his toys
Ya know, switch banks, tell other people, make a difference. Then you won't need to feel as bad.
@@zaydhasan1633 Yep. I'll try
@@grey-yem :) I Thank you for your effort, and the planet does too.
A major thing that frustrates me is that my work doesn’t have an ESG option for my 401k. That’s the largest stack of cash that I have and I’m forced to invest it in a fund that supports fossil fuels!
I have some fairly good news: The money you put in a 401k goes to the funds you elect, not to the bank itself. In this instance, the bank is acting as your broker. The only exceptions are Money Market/CDs/Savings if they're provided by that bank and the fees they collect for managing various funds. The mutual funds/bonds themselves may include fossil fuel companies (or those that support them) so you can do some research if you'd like to avoid those. Unfortunately, 401ks tend to have a pretty limited selection so it's not always possible to go 100% green. Regardless, it's not that dire and you have the tools to minimize your impact.
Also, don’t forget you can also contribute to an IRA!
Ya I hate that pension funds are generally run without any input from the benefactors, to the point where a unions own savings will be divested from thier company and they lose thier job. Should be a real smoking gun that we live in a "free market" where most people aren't allowed to decide how thier savings are used.
Same here!
@@TokenSelf yea that’s my point. All the options available to me seem to include fossil fuels. Maybe I just haven’t looked enough though. I’ll check again.
I will say that the unnecessary sponsorship of atmos did work, I am definitely going bank with them in the future!
Great video!
I did a little research into the bank I currently have my accounts with (ING, from the Netherlands). Turns out they put about 75% of all their energy investments (about 6.8 billion euros worth) into the fossil fuel industry. All the while pretending to be committed to fighting climate change, and setting all sorts of goals for themselves. Shameful, and I kick myself for never knowing this before. Will most definitely be changing banks a.s.a.p!
Yeah I'm with ABN Amro and turns out 71% of those investments were fossil fuels. I think I'm going to switch banks as well 😅
Did you do it?
That transition at 0:59 was so very clean. Incredible.
But what if I checked the "Socially Responsible" investing box on my banking website? Surely my bank wouldn't lie to me...
Yup, that’ll definitely work /s
But in all seriousness, I’m sure it varies from one institution to another. Some do have ESG funds which you can stick your money in, but they have more risk of losing value than a basic savings account.
@@SaveMoneySavethePlanet😔💸
nothing like a new Climate Town video to brighten my day!! [screams internally]
It's the poison you hate yourself for taking but need to
A channel that actually deserves to have bell icon. Atmos will have my money.
Thanks for reminding me to call my mom! We had a real nice conversation and she was really happy about it :)
Its such important, and often obscured information, delivered in such a clear and genuinely funny format. I'm 100% a new fan. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and for sharing.
Great video on a poorly or not at all understood subject in the general public. Having watched this, I immediately went and looked up what my local credit union invests and fund and I'm happy to see that their "climate pledges" seem to be legit, and they do not fund any fossil fuel energy sector companies. They break down their GHG emissions by tonne and by category, and it seems their biggest contributor is mortgages and new housing construction. That Atmos bank looks pretty great; I wish we had an equivalent in Canada, but I also like that my credit union is one of the good ones.
So glad you're finally talking about this. It's so crazy we've been letting banks get away with this for so long
On the other hand. If you drew up a list of unacceptable investments, and I drew up a list, they'd both be different. Then there's questions like if shell wants to borrow money to build wind turbines. Is that ok because it's wind turbines, or not because it's shell?
If I start a business and buy non green electricity should I be allowed a loan, or not because I'm propping up the fossil fuel industry?
If steel is impossible to make (currently) in a green way, should we just stop funding steel production? Or should we fund it because we need it, or fund it to help it become greener?
In short I'm not sure it is for banks to be fixing this by themselves. They are literally the underpinning of capitalism, and fossil fuels are currently the underpinning of the world's economy.
@@benholroyd5221Exactly, people are making too much of this. If you really want to keep your money out of everything you disagree with, open a brokerage account and buy the bonds of only the triple A rated companies you gully agree with, and accept that those bonds may not trade at the same price before they come due if interest rates jump between then and now. That is certainly more difficult for the majority of folks, especially the ones who blindly despise capitalism without even understanding it.
Although this is bad, and we should shake them into not investing in fossil fuels, what is worse is that public tax dollars still subsidized the fossil fuel industry heavily. The private sector is tying to make money, the public sector shouldn’t be doing this anymore for any reason (except to keep it going until we are able to transition over to green energy successfully).
10:23 I was so surprised, I'm french and that's my bank! La banque postale.
I was wondering about that since I've seen them claim multiple times that they are environmentally friendly when I logged in my bank account. Now I don't have to dig into anything, thanks!
I love the way this is written and presented, I need more of this guy! I could watch him talk about anything 😂
I think you are one of the only few TH-cam channels I've watched 100% of the content on. You make talking about climate change and the fossil fuel industry interesting with perfect editing and timing. Always love to see new stuff, looking forward to the next
Credit unions are member owned, so making stink about their lending practices makes a larger impact than banks.
Banks can do all greenwashing that they want but money don't lie. Great content Rollie.
It's absolutly absurd this channel only has 16 uploads and yet it's up there as some of the best content on the platform! All bangers no filler
For UK instead of a credit union you can go to a Building Society (such as Nationwide which I use or your local one) which generally won't be invested in fossil fuels. For banks Triodos is fossil free as well. Ones to avoid in the UK in particular are Barclays and HSBC. When I cancelled Barclays over the phone they asked for a reason for account closure and logged it.
Starling and the co-operative bank in the UK too. As well as their green(er)credentials, Starling are very user friendly. Would recommend 👍🏼
Triodos are socially responsible too - everyone pays a flat £3/month for their current account service (like most German banks), rather than stealing enormous overdraft fees from their poorest, most financially vulnerable customers (like most UK banks).
Your money cant cheat on you if you have no money.
Big brain energy over here!
Where do you think the nsf fees go
Rollie out here trying to be a pro basketball player yet he's only an average billiards player (probably because he is too dedicated to exposing how terribly these banks are making us believe they aren't a villain in climate change)
Seriously how do you pump out these videos, host a podcast, graduate school, and still have time to shoot at the table. You are truly an inspiration!
Someone make this guy our president
Great video, bang on! Sadly in Canada, we only have 5 giant banks who all invest heavily in fossil fuels, and green wash to keep the public happy.
these videos get BETTER everytime you post, you have reignited my climate change flame
It has seriously been amazing to see this channel grow into its own!
As an environmental science teacher, I greatly appreciate your content. Gives me great stuff to share with students. Plus, you bleep the worst curse words, so I don't have to worry about that either! Thanks for the great content
Keep it up Climate Town! Commenting to bump those TH-cam algorithm numbers.
dude thank you so much for making these videos
they make it so much easier to get my friends and family to understand what's going on and what we can do about it
Thank you so much for making this video. I am joining Atmos bank right now and dumping Wells Fargo.
Great work as always Rollie!
As an environmental geoscience student I acknowledge that I can know the science, perform the USGS studies, or clean up the industrial effluent all day long, but at the end the day it's science communicators like you that give us a sliver of a chance of making systemic change.
Glad to hear that my credit card debt and student loans are currently doing their part to stave off the oil industrial complex
I’ve never been this happy to be poor!
Every time you upload a video I'm like "Oh yay!" but then right after clicking I'm like "Oh no..." such awful subject matter but such great content. Keep it up Rollie. 👍🏻
I never thought being in the negative was helping the environment
Excellent as always. I never really thought about what my bank does with my money. I will check them out, and if they are funding the oil industry, I'll move my money to another less harmful bank.
Hey, I just applied for Atmos banking and became a patron of your channel.
Hey Rollie, I got a commercial that seemed to be a PSA for plastic recycling during this vid. It was from “The Campaign for Recycling Awareness” (obviously some plastic industry bullshit). Anyway, as a loyal viewer I just thought you should know they’re advertising misinformation on your channel. Not sure if there’s anything you can do about it but thought you should know it’s happening. Keep up the great work!
I got an ad for what seemed like a greenwashing company. Might have been an Environmental strategy company...but I dunno...felt a little disingenuous.
I also switched to a "better" bank a few years ago. (regional bank, EU) based on research one could reasonably do. (online comparison websites). Their app and website suck, but at least (according to comparison websites) they are funding local projects, pay fair wages, etc.
I got an ad for a Prime documentary about “earth day 2045” saying that “our greed is killing the planet.” The irony isn’t lost on me.
Seriously, each video, one after the other, succeeds in making me so happy. Thank you again for your excellent work and writing.
Another awesome video. Keep up the good work. Live in Denmark but will look into my banks lending habits tomorrow!
I saw multiple Bank & Natural Gas commercials while watching this telling me how my life is about to get better because of their efforts. It's like a union buster thing from Amazon telling me not to buy into "the lies". Weird.
It’s such a weird feeling when it happens. Helps you peek behind the curtain though and see how many of those ads are basically just propaganda.
Are there banks like Atmos that operate in Canada?
Seeing as banks provide barely any interest, the concept of dictating how they leverage it is a great idea
This channel is a goldmine! Rollie's humor is perfect and allows the most vile topics to be palatable
I checked out Atmos and it seems like a pretty good enviormentaly friendly bank so I would deffinatley reccomend people keep their money in that bank, the 5% cash back is very generous also.
Not only is this a major issue within banking but if the US 401k system is anything like our Australian's Superannuation, then a metric butt ton of your retirement/investment money is going directly into buying shares in these fossil fuel companies too!!
Love this!
Would love to see a collaboration with Allan Fisher on trains. Maybe electrifying more rails and climate stability? You're awesome 😎
Yes! We had an NJB collab, now we need a AU collab!
Electrified track is a thing that works for sure.
Tech dates back to 1800's.
This would be awesome.
Spent this whole video thinking about how I was going to helpfully tell everyone about Atmos at the end, only to find out that you already had it covered! So since you’ve got that I’ll add, if you’re investing beyond a bank account look at the VOTE ETF. It buys all the companies in the S&P 500 and votes for climate action at their annual board meetings. Maybe that’s your next vid?
Do you use Atmos Bank, Matt?
You helped me switch to Atmos! Now hit me with those socially responsible stock options!
I like your advertisement, I actually might transfer to that bank.
Update I did end up transferring most of my funds.
I always knew my money was going behind my back! I mean literally because that's usually where I put my wallet.
same, its always on my ass for some reason or another
Great video! I’ve used a local credit union for nearly two decades, they’re great on lending to low income people in my city.
But we pay for everything we can via credit cards - unfortunately all are issued by these major banks, plus Discover & American Express. We pay off each every month, but they make money off our swipe fees.
Atmos looks great, wish they issued a credit card.
I love these "by 2050" goals.
That's over a generation away.
Everyone in charge now will be retired then.
Prediction! In 2048, they will report "they still have some ways to go," and in 2049 they will withdraw.
Exactly. I’m way more trusting of someone who gives me a small goal and commits to completing it by the end of 2022 vs someone who has a big giant goal and says it’ll be done by 2050.
They’re so obviously just kicking the van down the road.
Generation...
Well thats for us zoomers to deal with.
Even there were going to be bloody 50.
God.... But hopefully by then all the boomers are dead thus meaning we can possibly make actual progress.
Lmao, great video! Love how you lighten the bad news with some good humour!
Yea he does an awesome job of balancing the depressing topics out!
I already called my mum today, thanks. We are meeting for coffee.
When I was a kid, I asked my mother why banks are able to pay us interest, since I thought that they can't make money from just storing our money in their vault.
Her answer was that the banks are using the money we store to be borrowed by others, and takes a profit from the interest from the loans.
It was a surprising fact back then. It turns out that our money in bank isn't just being stored behind the 12-inch thick steel door and collecting dust!
Love everything you make! Do you have any banking recommendations for us UK folk?
A quick google told me there is a bank called triodos focused on ethical lending, and otherwise building societies like nationwide, or coop are good bets
As others have commented elsewhere...credit unions are the way to go! Member and locally-owned, usually no shady stuff, often no or lower fees.
@@basmarshall8806 Starling bank only invest ethically
Monzo don't invest in fossil fuels, arms, or tobacco.
UK banks are ring-fenced, so your money will likely never be going to fossil fuel loans. Essentially, there's a bank holding company with two parts - an investment bank and a retail bank. Money does not flow between these two divisions by law. The vast majority of the fossil fuel lending is done by the investment bank. So keep your money where it is most convenient for you, because pulling it out will have no impact.
I remember the day I learned banks weren't vaults and safety deposit boxes. I wanted to keep my $2 bill safe and asked my parents to put it in the bank but they told me it wasn't then just sitting there for me.
Glad we had a nice local bank down the street growing up that I started at as soon as I could open an account, still with them and now with a couple credit unions too. Local banking is the way to go! Better interest on stuff like car loans anyways!
This is one of my new favoritest channels. I'm gonna be depressed anyway, so I might as well be entertained.
Might be interesting to look into whether divesting investment portfolios from fossil fuels has any measurable benefit. On one hand, buying stock in a company isn't giving money to the company, but on the other it does in theory raise the value of the company. Also, as you mentioned shareholders can vote on the trajectory of a company, so theoretically owning stock in fossil fuels could be a net positive if enough shareholders decided they wanted to change the direction of the company. But I'm sure the reality is more complex.
Another big way to help the environment is to take your money out of the bank, and put it in Wall Street, that way your money is 100% going to the companies in competition with Oil and Gas. There's hundreds of companies that provide Solar and Wind and many other projects. My personal favorite is Next Era Energy (wind turbines).
Great video as usual. Thanks for including things we can do to help
Yea, it’s always frustrating when a video gets me all riled up and angry and totem just ends. So glad he gives me ideas on small changes I can make and causes I can support in order to try to help.
All 4 banks appreciate yalls patience with them trying to change in the future. God bless oil ..I mean American slave force...I mean Money
Cheezus Crust is actually my favorite expletive. Thank you for recognizing its brilliance
I think I can actually speak for other people I don’t know and I will never met when I say we collectively love this guy
Nice to meet you Gabriele, my name's Danny. I 100% agree :)
Ahhhh yes, surprise fossil fuel funding, my second favorite thing after surprise oil spills
He likes pool, loves the environment, and has a clear and coherent economic criticism, rollie is based as hell dude
Insurance companies do the same. And it's not just fossil fuels, it's also weapons, etc.
Tips for Dutches for banks: Triodos and ASN bank; for insurance companies: ASR is pretty good!
Dude, your whole channel is such a great service to the community! :)