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Two Steps Forward

Why are climate-committed banks living in a fuel’s paradise?

巴塔哥尼亚气泵徽标

Image from a Patagonia organic cotton T-shirt, circa 2010.

从每周免费的新闻通讯Greenbuzz转载。在这里订阅

Frustration with the banking industry is gaining currency — in particular, the sector’s role in financing fossil fuels.

A新报告从雨林行动网络(RAN)领导的一个激进非政府组织的联盟中,自巴黎协议采用以来的六年中,全球60个最大银行的化石燃料融资已达到近4.6万亿美元。这笔资金由四家美国银行(美国银行,花旗,摩根大通和富国银行)主导,这些银行自2015年以来总共占所有化石燃料融资的四分之一。MUFG, Japan’s largest bank, as the biggest fossil-fuel funders in their respective countries.

The report, "Banking on Climate Chaos," noted that all four U.S. banks are members of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, part of theGlasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero团体或Gfanz。去年11月,在COP26上,GFANZ成员表示,他们承诺了130万亿美元的资本来实现净零温室气体的排放,这一举动被驳回为“自我欢迎公告”。

如报告所述:

这些银行可能会吹捧他们致力于帮助客户过渡的承诺,然而,该报告中的60家银行去年汇集了1,855亿美元,融入了100家公司为扩大化石燃料行业所做的最多的公司,例如沙特阿美和埃克森美孚(Exxonmobil) - 即使在碳预算清楚地表明,我们无法负担任何新的煤炭,天然气,石油供应或基础设施。

Activist pressure on banks has existed for decades, of course. But the last year or so has seen an escalation by activists, institutional investors and others born in large part from comparing banks’ net-zero commitments with their continued financing and development of fossil-fuel assets: oil and gas fields, coal mines, new or expanded oil and gas pipelines, LNG terminals, coal-fired power plants and the like.

Will all the naming and shaming possibly tame the worst impulses of the world’s biggest banks and the investor class that owns them?

该报告显示,从2020年到2021年,焦油砂融资项目增加了51%,加拿大银行加拿大皇家银行和TD以及摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)的增长最大。去年,压裂项目获得了超过620亿美元的融资,富国银行(Wells Fargo)领先。摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase),Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.和Intesa Sanpaolo去年是北极石油和天然气活动的最高支持者。摩根士丹利,加拿大皇家银行和高盛是2021年最大的液化天然气金融家。煤矿融资由中国的Everbright Bank和Citic Bank领导。

当然,这些银行中的许多银行必须因承诺与可持续性相关的融资付出巨额资金而获得信誉。必威体育2018例如,美国银行坚定的要“到2030年动员1万亿美元”,朝着“低碳,可持续的商业活动”。花旗同样保证到2030年,$ 1万亿美元,以“资助和促进各种气候解决方案”。富国银行说这会上马到2030年,5000亿美元用于“有助于过渡到低碳经济”的活动。摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)与这三家银行的总承诺相符announcedit would "finance and facilitate" more than $2.5 trillion by the end of 2030 "to advance long-term solutions that address climate change and contribute to sustainable development."

经过the way, those rather squishy terms — "mobilize," "advance," "finance and facilitate" — are worthy of further exploration to better understand how much of these funds are being used for net-new loans and investments that accelerate the transition to a net-zero future.

“明确断开连接”

但是,这些总和仍被直接流向肮脏的能量流动的资金所抵消。例如,如果这四家银行在过去的十年中继续以2021年的速度为化石燃料提供资金,那么到2030年,它将总计超过1.6万亿美元。消费必须急剧下降。因此,越来越关注银行的言论差距。

RAN报告仅是一个压力点。其他报告,由伦敦的非营利性影响力于上周出版,评估了与气候相关的政策和实践的30个最大金融机构。它发现“具体的短期目标与应对气候紧急情况所需的措施与金融部门目前正在设定的有限长期目标所需的行动之间存在明显的脱节。”它说:

All major financial groups retain core memberships in industry associations opposing evolving climate finance policies in the EU, U.K. and U.S. Their banking and asset management arms remain highly active in fossil-fuel production financing, in direct contrast to science-based guidance. The climate plans the sector does have remain focused on 2050 targets with little evidence of short-term action plans.

Implasemap发现,30个金融机构中有15家是行业协会的成员,他们在直接支持化石燃料利益的职位上游说。

还有更多:

  • 监管机构正在tip脚。The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., better known as the FDIC, an agency created by Congress to maintain public confidence in the nation's banks, last week released arequest for commenton proposed principles for how banks with more than $100 billion in assets should assess and mitigate their climate-related financial risks. It noted: "Climate-related financial risks pose a clear and significant risk to the U.S. financial system and, if unmitigated, may pose a near-term threat to safe and sound banking and financial stability."
  • 即将到来的年度股东大会季节将看到其行动份额。Ran说,在接下来的两个月中,有望面对股东决议,呼吁他们停止融资化石燃料的扩张,否则将其商业惯例与将全球变暖限制在1.5摄氏度上。他们去世的机会很低,但这并不总是这样的决议的重点,他们的支持者希望刺激与C-Suites和董事会的认真对话。
  • There's a burgeoning citizen uprising.第三幕, a pressure group launched by activist Bill McKibben earlier this year to harness the passion of over-60 "experienced Americans," is focusing on pressuring banks "to stop bankrolling climate destruction." Among its tactics: Get members to cut up credit cards from the four big U.S. banks cited above. It plans to deliver请愿to the banks’ CEOs next week, boasting more than 22,000 signatures so far.
  • 然后有一个小的,价值驱动的银行,旨在利用这一切。今年早些时候,九家地区银行成立了化石免费银行联盟, whose members "do not finance fossil fuel companies or projects and have pledged not to do so in the future." And while it’s unlikely that these financial Davids can do much to stem the relentless flows of fossil-fuel money proffered by the banking Goliaths, they provide a viable alternative for both consumers and small and midsize firms that, over time, could become another pressure point.

Not surprisingly, the whole idea of banks divesting from fossil fuels has become a political football, at least in the United States, where a 15-state coalition of Republican state treasurers has pledged to "scrutinize or potentially curtail future business with banks that adopt corporate policies to cut off financing for the coal, oil and natural gas industries," according to West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore, the group’s事实上的领导者

Where will this all end up? Will all the naming and shaming possibly tame the worst impulses of the world’s biggest banks and the investor class that owns them? Or will they bend to the will of the conservative right that seems to have no limits to its willingness to promote fossil-fuel interests?

很难看到前进的道路。在十年末之前,可能需要一家主要银行中的一家主要银行,从而使其退出化石燃料融资。在短期内,这可能为其他较不受欢迎的银行打开闸门,以抓住那些被遗弃的客户。在一定程度上,它创造了一个良性的潮流,这可能会使世界上的一切变化。

好的,这是一个梦dream以求的。也许,也许,也许世界上最大的金融机构中的一个或多个会改变其曲调,并在相当短的时间范围内进行实践。

But I wouldn’t bank on it.

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