Issue and opponent: The Bank of England continued to fail to adjust operations to support the Paris Agreement.
Dilemma Action: The Yes Men released a hoax press statement from BoE claiming that it would stop buying corporate bonds from fossil fuel companies, following through on its longstanding promise to address climate change. A global coalition of banks even thanked them. BoE then had to issue a statement saying that they, in fact, did NOT plan to do that, and it was revealed that this was a stunt pulled by the Yes Men. After this, if the Bank of England continued to invest in these bonds, it would appear as though they did not care about their commitment to addressing climate change and would get more backlash. “We wanted to show how it would feel—even for a split second—if a central bank took steps to protect against climate calamity,” said Jeff Walburn of the Yes Men.
Outcomes: There was widespread media coverage of the initial hoax announcement and the fallout. BoE threatened legal action and denied that they were failing to live up to promises on climate. The hoax, though, revealed that it was a lie.
Larger Campaign: Yes, Yes Men launched a campaign dedicated to climate action.