 Thank you so much for joining us. Today, Evelyn and me just had a meeting with the head of the Deutsche Bank, Christian Zeving and his spokesperson. We would like to firstly very much make sure that the meeting was confidential, so we won't talk about specific details of the meeting. We appreciate the invitation very much. It's not something we see all the time. Yet also our criticism stands firmly. We need banks like the Deutsche Bank to get away from fossil fuels. We need hard decisions to be made about fossil fuel investments. And we need honesty about where we're heading towards a 1.5 degree world that is as safe as possible, that is a climate justice future, that respects the rights of people everywhere, no matter where they are born, or a world heading towards climate disasters where only the most privileged and wealthy people have a small chance of staying safe. And we have made a decision what we are fighting for, and we're demanding governments, but also banks and investors, insurances and so on, to make a decision themselves. And we are not only waiting for them to make that decision, but we're calling that out, we're confronting them. That's what we are doing with Deutsche Bank, but also many other investors and institutions that are part of the whole fossil fuel world, but should be part of a decarbonized world. And I think we will start now with statements here, Evelyn will go ahead. And we will also comment on the D7 who are just now making, opening up their final communique and their summary about their decisions that they're making. Thank you so much for joining us, and of course there will be time for questions and answers and interviews and so on afterwards. Hopefully maybe you introduce yourselves too. If there is a wish for something in German in particular, I think we can do this afterwards as well. Thank you so much. My name is Evelyn Acham. I would like to thank Deutsche Bank for accepting to have this meeting with us. It's very important for me, someone from Uganda, a country that is experiencing some of the worst impacts of the climate crisis. This is us calling out banks to put an end to any new fossil fuels because fossil fuels are killing people right now. Disasters are happening in my country right now. So the dangers of fossil fuels are very clear and we do not need any new fossil fuels right now. We need an upscale and renewable energy and we need finance for loss and damage from my country. This is to the G7 leaders. My country and Africa and countries in the Global South are demanding for loss and damage finance now. We are demanding for climate finance now, which was promised years back to be delivered to the most vulnerable countries, to help them in mitigation and adaptation. We are demanding you to provide climate finance for the people and stop investing in any new fossil fuel projects. Thank you. My name is Joshua Amanup, a climate justice activist from Uganda. I am grateful for this opportunity today. My message to Deutsche Bank is to be consistent with keeping 1.5 alive. When you make commitments and you publicize that your efforts are going to be consistent with 1.5 consistent with net zero and get your investing in fossil fuel business, that is not keeping 1.5 alive. We request that you invest more in more sustainable forms of energy because those are the forms of energy which deliver justice. Investing in fossil fuels in my country doesn't deliver justice, it instead delivers injustice. My message to the G7 leaders is to put loss and damage back to the agenda and deliver climate finance. Hello everyone. My name is Edwin Namakanga, a climate activist from Uganda. I'm part of the rise up movement. We are here as from Uganda demanding an end to the financing of the eco pipeline because we see that it's pretty near over 14,000 households. These people will be affected by their livelihoods and then we only have one water source and this oil pipeline will be passing through this one source and that's like Victoria and it will pollute the water and we have seen that quite a big number of people are depending on this lake to get what to eat and it's greatly going to affect their livelihoods. So my message to Deutsche Bank and also the people in charge and people who are supporting these fossil fuel projects to go on is that to stop it now and make sure that they invest at least in renewable energy sources because we want a sustainable future for all because we can't adapt to loss and damage. We can't adapt to lose our culture, our homes and our livelihoods. Thank you so much. Some people say that the climate activists like us that we are the radicals and Antonio Guterres lately made very clear that the radicals in this world are those who still invest in fossil fuels, who still make fossil fuel investments possible, who fight for what the IPCC calls the worst case scenario. That is the climate track we are on right now. That is not a future problem, that is a present problem and here today sitting together and especially the Ugandan perspectives make that very, very clear. What we demand from banks and investors and governments is a clear phase out, not a phase down but a phase out of all fossil fuels. This must include for the G7 a clear ending with coal in 2030, the latest. It must include a clear end date for gas and oil exploration as well and it must include a clear no to new explorations of oil and gas anywhere. Right now, some of the dirtiest industries in the world supported by banks and governments are planning more and more new fossil fuel explorations knowingly that this is clearly not in line with what the International Energy Agency calls a safe pathway towards a climate justice future. And what we are having to do here and we don't haven't shown them to do this and we have many more things we can think of but we need to call that out. We need to call out these news investments and we need to call out who's behind them, whether it's governments, whether it's banks, whether it's investors. That is what we have to do. No more new fossil fuel exploration. That's a very, very easy thing to understand and people who are in such powerful positions today in numerous institutions will have the capacity to understand that it's not rocket science. It's very black and white. For institutions like the Deutsche Bank, this means being honest and clear about their investment plans. Are you planning to invest in climate justice or you're planning to undermine climate justice? That is a black and white decision and that accounts for governments as well. We are very worried about the G7 meetings. We are worried about where Olaf Scholz would lead us in this G7 summit as we couldn't trust him if we didn't have a reason to trust him to stick to 1.5. And that is a devastating acknowledgement that we had to make from a chancellor that is so relatively new in his office. We are seeing that some of the worst decisions could be prevented in this G7 meeting. We are seeing some strong language on gas being included, but of course that is not what is needed right now. We need voter decisions, we need braver decisions, and we need governments to be clear about their planning for a climate justice world or their planning to undermine it. And this accounts especially of course for the G7, some of the richest industrialized countries in the world. And in regards to the wider decisions that are being made, just a few words on the taxonomy. We're not only looking at banks, we know that banks need to be regulated. And for this we look at the EU right now making big decisions about the EU taxonomy. And of course the greenwashing taxonomy that was proposed by the commission needs to be voted down by the EU parliament in the upcoming weeks. It's some heavy and very bold and very concrete demand that is also not so hard to understand I would say. And as of course for governments like the G7 they need to be clear. And in the light of the Ukraine war, a fossil fuel war that is funded and financed by fossil fuels, we need governments to respond to this war with a ramping up of renewables, with climate justice, with honest and bold decisions about decarbonization everywhere. The answer to this war cannot be new fossil fuels, it cannot be new exploration, it cannot be new investments but it needs to be just the opposite. Renewables, climate justice and an honest discussion about where energy comes from and what the price is we are willing to pay for peace for the future and secure democracy for everyone. Thank you so much. And I think we now have, we now have, do we have some water maybe? Can we have some water please? We I think have now time for questions, if there are any. Hey my name is Steve, Steve Ehrens, I'm Bloomberg News. You've made some, you know, you're asking, I guess, Deutsche Bank to stop financing Total, the company that's behind the ECOG pipeline. Do you have any other demands? I'm pretty sure. I mean, I know Deutsche Bank pretty well and I'm pretty sure they walked you to their carbon commitments in their meetings just now. And they're all on the record so you can comment on them. You don't have to comment on your meeting. Do you think those commitments are ambitious enough or does Deutsche Bank need to do more with their public commitments? Thank you. This is a, of course, public record. Some of us spoke at the AGM at Deutsche Bank as well so we also made it very clear in public that of course we need banks to step out of the ECOG pipeline. Several banks have done this already and at least according to some sources the Deutsche Bank has done this too. But of course we need, we're asking banks like Deutsche Bank, all of them to step away from the financing from Total as a company as we know that looking at the investment plans of Total, they're not even trying to hide the fact that they are giving nothing on the 1.5 degree commitment, that they're not planning to stick to anything that you consider climate justice promises. Companies like Total will not learn. They will not change the logic under which they operate for whatever it takes. This is what their investment plans and their open, their public, that is what they tell us. And ECOG here is just one of the catastrophic projects they're planning to go ahead including new exploration in numerous countries across the globe, new gas fields, new pipelines, new projects everywhere. And those companies that will not learn, they need to be cancelled and they need to be cancelled by investors like the Deutsche Bank. And then of course Total is only one company among many so we need to look at the wider picture at the investment plans that are being made and we need to be bold about what is a 9 of 1.5 and what not. And as a bank if you support a company that is not sticking to 1.5, well good luck with your promises but you're not sticking to 1.5, that's the reality of these investment plans that we are seeing everywhere. And of course we won't stop at Deutsche Bank but we will call out those investors for as long as it takes. We continue to call out all banks investing in fossil fuels to stop investing in the fossil fuel industry. This is not only to Deutsche Bank but to every bank that is listening to us right now. But Africa as a continent does not need any new fossil fuels. I hear countries, the rich countries like Germany transferring their drilling of oil to Africa, like Senegal, like to my country. But Africa as a continent does not need any new fossil fuels. We have so many things that are affecting us. Girls are dropping out of school. Women, the climate crisis is disproportionately affecting people in my community and the present is very bad right now. Children are dying. Women have to do more farm work. Children have to drop out of school because their schools are being washed away by the floods and girls have to end up being given away from marriage in exchange of bride price. So for us we are already seeing the intersection of the climate crisis. It's too interconnected in our country. It's affecting education. It's affecting the environment. It's affecting our schools. It's affecting gender. It's affecting everything. And this is why we demand countries like Germany to listen to us, to listen to the voices of people from the most affected. If you don't believe that it is very serious right now if you don't believe that fossil fuels are causing so much harm to the planet listen to our stories. The stories are very real. The stories are being reported everywhere. Like Louisa said we all need to take 1.5 degree target so seriously and everyone can be an activist. You can do activism in your capacity. You don't have to stand on the streets with placards too like we are doing but like the banks can look at the contracts that they are approving contracts that are sustainable contracts from sustainable people are not from fossil fuel companies and even the media most often should look at what they report. You need to put the climate stories at the forefront. You need to put the stories of people from most affected, people from on the front pages. I would like to thank the media that is reporting this right now. I hope this can go out there and these stories can be amplified and people understand exactly what is happening around the world and not stay comfortable. Is there another question? Please talk about re-washing again. Yeah, I think that's a very important question. In response also I think to the climate movement rising heavily in the last years we see players everywhere reacting yet the most common reaction we see is heads of companies of banks and investors not running to their strategy department but to their PR department coming up with sustainability reports with nice numbers, with green headlines, with climate summits and climate speeches and climate everything. Yet when we look at the investment plans it's not adding up and the reports are out there. Most, the vast majority of banks, of investors, of insurances but also of governments have no plan how to stick to their so-called climate promises. And then these are not climate promises anymore but then it's just climate wishful thinking that we just don't have time for. And it is dangerous what we're seeing in terms of greenwashing across the industries not just because it's boldly lying to customers to the public, to governments, sometimes to the media but it distracts. And it puts people in a place where they are very, very likely to believe that it all will be better. In the same or similar pattern we're seeing just now in the Ukraine war when we see all the arguments on the table why we must phase out our fossil fuels, they strengthen autocrats, they weaken democracies it makes just so much sense. And just because it makes so much sense we're seeing the people looking away from what's actually happening that they're closing their eyes to the realities that's telling a whole different stories about fossil fuels being ramped up everywhere about the gold rush on fossil fuels how it's being called in the media recently how reports have made very, very clear. Just looking and listening to the nice promises is not what is needed. But we need people, that's what we're doing as activists we need media, we need institutions to look at what's happening on the ground. We do not care about your net zero agreements for something, something in whatever distant future when right now you're doing the exact opposite as an acting in line with 1.5 degree. That is a message to Deutsche Bank that's a message to banks everywhere and to the G7 leaders just as well. I'd like to add on that basically I would like to base on loss and damage when countries commit that they would like to support mapper countries on loss and damage they make commitments for instance in the commitment of delivering climate finance of the 100 million. That commitment has never been honoured by any of the countries that committed to that and if you fail to honour that commitment to commit to that promise and yet publicly on media you say you're standing with mapper you're working towards 1.5 that is another form of clean washing. By keeping the promises that you made climate finance must be delivered. Another thing about loss and damage loss and damage may not make sense to people who have grown up from Europe few people who have grown in Europe loss and damage might sound like a fable heard from far. But loss and damage is real and it costs money to recover it costs money to go back to the state that you were in for instance in South Africa there were floods at the beginning of this year a lot of property was damaged and when this damage came it did discriminate between the rich or the poor everyone's property was destroyed the same crisis is happening in Africa if you don't keep 1.5 alive they'll soon come to Europe they'll soon come to all the other continents so when we demand for climate justice not only look at it as something profiting only Africa the climate crisis knows nobody and the climate crisis will affect all of us Is there another question? In that sense I think we will end this setting here I would like to again flag if the Deutsche Bank wouldn't have invited us to speak today we still would be here but we couldn't talk about how it is a very positive signal to meet with activists and to be confronted like that CEOs have chosen otherwise in the past and we again appreciate very much the dialogue that is happening there are some industries that we I don't think have an attention to talk to but we came here knowing that we could talk honestly and confidentially about things and that is something we would like to flag is unusual and worth noting again at the end of the meeting also knowing that it might come across as a slightly provocative with the signs in the background that is the reality we're in facing these hard questions and confrontations we have no time to lose we have no time for blah blah blah we have no time for empty handshaking but we need to get down to things and we need to talk truth to power whenever we can everyone and not just us climate activists thank you so much for coming today I think we now have time for some interviews or photos and I think sitting here the sign kind of got lost over there in the wind but we are also facing a big meeting coming up by the investments by the insurance broker Marsh discussing who could possibly ensure the eco pipeline as insurances are breaking away and we of course calling out the insurance broker as well to step away from finding any new insurances for the eco pipeline this is nothing that can be insured ever as it's a project that is doomed to fail doomed to lead to more insecurity and damage and destruction no insurance can count on that to be something close to a safe bet so of course that is happening this week as well it's a full week for climate finance and climate insurance and we are full on to tackle whatever there and so is the wind