LONDON (Reuters) – Civil disobedience group Extinction Rebellion staged a protest outside McKinsey & Company’s London office on Friday to demand the consulting firm use its influence over companies and governments to drive far-reaching action on climate change.
Extinction Rebellion climate change activist wears a face mask of McKinsey Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader outside the company’s head office in London, Britain January 31, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville
At least 30 protesters gathered outside the building holding banners emblazoned with slogans such as “Business As Usual = Death” and “No More Green Wash, Act Now,” according to a Reuters photographer on the scene.
Extinction Rebellion activists also wheeled a mock-up of an elephant to McKinsey’s office to symbolize what they see as “the elephant in the room” of the climate crisis.
McKinsey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The protest was the latest in a series held outside McKinsey on alternate Friday mornings since November by Extinction Rebellion, which wants companies and governments to take rapid action to stabilize the Earth’s climate by slashing greenhouse gas emissions and preserving collapsing ecosystems.
Extinction Rebellion says it wants McKinsey’s global managing partner Kevin Sneader to publicly declare a “a climate and ecological emergency” which contains explicit warnings about the prospect of runaway global warming.
The movement also wants the firm to publish a science-based target for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and disclose what percentage of its clients by sector are on track for reducing their emissions in line with global temperature goals.
“Extinction Rebellion’s latest target is McKinsey & Co, the world’s leading management consultants, high priests of global capitalism,” Extinction Rebellion said in a statement.
“XR is demanding that McKinsey use its enormous influence over governments and business to effect drastic reduction of global carbon emissions and prevent the worst effects of climate breakdown,” the group, also known as XR, said.
A Reuters photographer on the scene said the protest was peaceful with no sign of any confrontation between activists and workers arriving at the building.
Reporting by Matthew Green; editing by Michael Holden and Hugh Lawson
