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2020-12-22 00:00:00
Blog: In 2020, the Equator Principles struggle to remain relevant
2020-12-14 00:00:00
The battle to stop Line 3 is heating up on the ground and across the US
2020-12-14 00:00:00
Corporate accountability and the just transition: Frameworks for holding corporations accountable for climate change
2020-12-12 00:00:00
Five years since the Paris Agreement, are banks' 2050 pledges enough to reign in fossil fuel finance?
2020-09-24 12:53:20
Oscislowo open-pit coal mine cancelled
2020-09-08 13:07:41
Strengthened OECD guidance on responsible banking
2020-02-25 10:35:27
JPMorgan Chase Coal and Arctic Policy a step forward but fails to match its climate responsibility as the world’s #1 Fossil Bank
2020-02-18 17:27:23
Civil society groups welcome Royal Bank of Scotland preparing to exit fossil fuels
Connect
2020-11-30 00:00:00
Soft Commitments, Hard Lessons: an analysis of the Soft Commodities Compact
2020-11-24 00:00:00
"Trust Us, We're Equator Banks": Part II
2020-11-18 00:00:00
Crude Risk: Risks to banks and investors from the East African Crude Oil Pipeline
2020-09-16 00:00:00
Principles for Paris-Aligned Financial Institutions: Climate Impact, Fossil Fuels and Deforestation
2020-08-17 00:00:00
"Trust Us, We're Equator Banks": Part I
2020-03-18 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Change - Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2020
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State Bank of India: Stop the loan to billionaire Adani!
Media reports the State Bank of India is considering giving Adani almost AU $1 billion for their climate-wrecking Australian coal mine.
New report: “Soft commitments, Hard lessons”
An analysis of the Soft Commodities Compact
Support the fight against the Line 3 Pipeline
Construction has started on the final stretch of the Line 3 Replacement Project, but Indigenous and environmental groups are still fighting to stop the pipeline. Find out how you can support their fight.…

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ShareAction filed a climate resolution at HSBC - here's why

You are not having a deja-vu: ShareAction, together with over 100 institutional and private co-filers, is filing of a shareholder resolution concerning climate change at a UK bank
2021-01-11 | ShareAction
It is 2021, and we are asking HSBC to come clean on how the bank is planning to reduce its involvement with the fossil fuel industry. Your instant reaction to this may be “but hasn’t the bank just announced that they will do just that as part of their commitment to Net zero by 2050?” And yes, they have. But while their commitment says they will reduce “the emissions [they] add to the atmosphere”, they haven’t told us how they are going to do that, not convincingly anyway. And that is the issue. Statements of ambition only go so far We saw a flurry of such announcements in 2020 – including a pledge to become carbon neutral from the world’s largest fossil fuel financier, JP Morgan. But without concrete steps to back up these ambitions, including a commitment to reduce financing of key fossil fuel actors, they are nothing short of a PR exercise. No doubt others will follow in 2021.  We believe it is healthy for investors to send the message that it is just not enough. Next you might ask “isn’t HSBC doing a lot more than other banks regarding the greening of finance?” Again, yes, they are. Our own ranking of European banks last year put them near the top. The bank is doing well when it comes to governance structures and the provision of low-carbon financing. Unfortunately, the HSBC is also financing a lot of ‘high-carbon’ activity. HSBC and fossil fuels HSBC is Europe’s second-biggest finance provider for the fossil fuel industry,…

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ShareAction filed a climate resolution at HSBC - here's why

You are not having a deja-vu: ShareAction, together with over 100 institutional and private co-filers, is filing of a shareholder resolution concerning climate change at a UK bank
2021-01-11 | ShareAction
It is 2021, and we are asking HSBC to come clean on how the bank is planning to reduce its involvement with the fossil fuel industry. Your instant reaction to this may be “but hasn’t the bank just announced that they will do just that as part of their commitment to Net zero by 2050?” And yes, they have. But while their commitment says they will reduce “the emissions [they] add to the atmosphere”, they haven’t told us how they are going to do that, not convincingly anyway. And that is the issue. Statements of ambition only go so far We saw a flurry of such announcements in 2020 – including a pledge to become carbon neutral from the world’s largest fossil fuel financier, JP Morgan. But without concrete steps to back up these ambitions, including a commitment to reduce financing of key fossil fuel actors, they are nothing short of a PR exercise. No doubt others will follow in 2021.  We believe it is healthy for investors to send the message that it is just not enough. Next you might ask “isn’t HSBC doing a lot more than other banks regarding the greening of finance?” Again, yes, they are. Our own ranking of European banks last year put them near the top. The bank is doing well when it comes to governance structures and the provision of low-carbon financing. Unfortunately, the HSBC is also financing a lot of ‘high-carbon’ activity. HSBC and fossil fuels HSBC is Europe’s second-biggest finance provider for the fossil fuel industry,…
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New Report: Bankrolling Plastics - the banks that fund plastic packaging pollution

2021-01-07 | portfolio.earth
Between January 2015 and September 2019, banks provided loans and underwriting of more than USD 1.7 trillion to key actors in the global plastics supply chain, finds a new report from portfolio.earth. These loans went to 40 major companies involved in the global plastics supply chain, equivalent to USD 790 million per day. More than 60 per cent of all finance identified was provided by ten banks, and more than 80 per cent (USD 1.4 trillion) came from just 20 banks. Banks must no longer be able to evade responsibility for the role they play in enabling plastic pollution worldwide. View the key findings and download the report here.      
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27 groups oppose OCC rule forcing banks to lend to climate polluters

Public Citizen and more than two dozen groups submitted comments to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency opposing the deceptively titled Fair Access to Financial Services
2021-01-05 | Public Citizen
Public Citizen and more than two dozen groups on Monday submitted comments to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) opposing the deceptively titled Fair Access to Financial Services proposed rule. The rule would pressure and, in some cases, require banks to lend to fossil fuel companies, without regard to strategic or reputational risk. Yevgeny Shrago, policy counsel for Public Citizen’s Energy and Climate Program, released the following statement: “The proposed rule flatly contradicts the OCC’s mission by threatening the safety and soundness of banks seeking to mitigate climate-related risks. It twists the language of racial justice and redlining to justify pressuring banks to lend to the increasingly risky fossil fuel industry. “The rule also fails to consider the increasing credit and operational risks of the fossil fuel industry. Banks cutting ties with the industry are responding prudently to developments such as the rapid shift toward a low-carbon economy and the fossil fuel industry’s disproportionate reliance on CARES Act bailouts. “The rule exceeds the OCC’s legal authority and defines fair access to financial services in a way that could compel lending to risky, climate-harming industries. The OCC should withdraw this proposal and use its real legal authority to ensure that banks appropriately account for and reduce climate risk, including their own contributions to it. Banks continue to provide trillions in direct fossil fuel financing. The OCC must address climate…
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Blog: In 2020, the Equator Principles struggle to remain relevant

EP4 disappointed, but better implementation could redeem the Principles
2020-12-22 | Nijmegen | Hannah Greep – BankTrack
In a year in which the Covid-19 pandemic tore through our society, the importance of carefully assessing the impact of proposed infrastructure projects on communities, the environment and climate prior to a decision to proceed has never been clearer. However, although the Equator Principles (EPs) have been in place for seventeen years now, our research this year has shown there is still much work to do to improve their effectiveness in protecting the rights and interests of communities and preventing adverse environmental impacts. This year saw the launch of the newest iteration of the Principles, EP4 - the result of a review process which BankTrack, along with many other organisations that made up the ‘Equator Banks, Act!’ campaign coalition, pushed hard for. However, the revision made only minor improvements, falling far short of our vision of an EPs that finally deliver on protecting human rights and the climate. Since nobody will be contemplating drafting EP5 any time soon, in 2020 we refocused our efforts on assessing whether the Principles in place are effectively implemented, and what changes can be made within the scope of EP4 to make sure they meet the promise of ensuring large-scale project finance takes place with respect for the rights of affected communities. “Trust Us, We’re Equator Banks” Part I & II Our research focused on two of the most significant commitments in the Equator Principles for safeguarding project-affected communities: ensuring they are adequately consulted (following…
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Desjardins adopts a robust coal exit policy

2020-12-18 | Reclaim Finance
The Quebec financial group Desjardins has just published the details of its thermal coal policy. This policy covers all the essential exclusion criteria that will allow it to completely phase out coal by 2030 in the OECD and 2040 in the rest of the world. Desjardins becomes the 17th financial institution to adopt a robust coal exit policy and the 2nd outside France, after Italy’s UniCredit. Upon adopting its first sector policy, Desjardins met all the criteria for a good coal exit policy. Desjardins takes note of the incompatibility of any new coal project with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and excludes all support for the expansion of the coal sector: Desjardins excludes all direct support for new mining, power plant and infrastructure projects (railways, export terminals, etc.), as well as for existing or renovation projects. Desjardins also excludes any support for the companies behind such projects. Desjardins thus becomes the 22nd financial institution to exclude all developers, not to mention infrastructure developers. In contrast, most financial institutions do not exclude any company because of their coal investment plans. This is the case, for example, for the Canadian bank RBC (Royal Bank of Canada), which financed four coal plant developers between 2017 and September 2019 to the tune of USD 728 million, according to the latest available financial data. Desjardins excludes all coal-producing companies and all companies…
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The battle to stop Line 3 is heating up on the ground and across the US

Activists around the US join national day of action to end financing for tar sands pipelines like Enbridge's Line 3
2020-12-14 | Maaike Beenes – BankTrack
While the Paris climate agreement turned 5 this weekend and people around the world demanded action for the time lost and promises unfulfilled, across the US Indigenous and environmental groups took to the streets to demand banks stop funding Enbridge and Line 3. Actions were organised in over 50 cities across the country including Seattle, Portland, Washington, St Paul and Minneapolis, with activists delivering letters to the funders of Enbridge. Stop the Money Pipeline made this great video about the Day of Action.   Just days earlier the Canadian company Enbridge started construction on the Minnesota stretch of the Line 3 replacement project. But although construction has now started, protests continue, there are still lawsuits pending, and Enbridge will face ongoing resistance. In the meantime, major banks are still funding Enbridge, facilitating the construction of Line 3. They too are under increasing pressure from activists including local Indigenous groups to end their financing of the Enbridge and  all other tar sands projects. #Portland Oregon showed up outside Chase branches today with a fire truck hung with a banner, "Chase: We need action, not words! Defund Fossil Fuels!"#StopLine3 #StopTheMoneyPipeline pic.twitter.com/L80lkobNc0 — Stop the Money Pipeline (@StopMoneyPipe) December 12, 2020 Another problematic pipeline With the Line 3 Replacement Project, Enbridge wants to modernize the existing Line 3 pipeline, which transports tar sands from Alberta in Canada to Wisconsin in the US.…
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Bowing to public pressure, Rizal becomes first bank in Philippines to exit coal

2020-12-14 | Inclusive Development International
One of the largest banks in the Philippines has announced that it will no longer finance coal plants, becoming just the fourth bank in Southeast Asia – and the first in the Philippines – to exit the fossil fuel. Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) made the announcement after years of pressure from climate activists in the Philippines and an investigation of the bank’s practices by one of its most prominent shareholders, the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation. “No more coal. I’ll say that slowly: no more coal,” said the bank’s president and CEO, Eugene Acevedo, at an event on Thursday. The announcement amounts to a radical departure for one of the leading financiers of a recent coal boom in the Philippines, an island nation that is extremely vulnerable to climate change.  It came a month after the country’s energy department announced that it will issue a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants, although the moratorium does not apply to some 22 proposed plants that have already been approved to be built. “This announcement, coupled with the Department of Energy’s coal moratorium, heralds the end of coal in the Philippines,” said Aaron Pedrosa, Co-Chair of the Energy Working Group of Philippine Movement for Climate Justice and Secretary-General of Sanlakas.  “Big commercial banks like RCBC that have been aggressively funding coal projects have been recalcitrant in accepting…
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Notice Board
Update Alerts
On 2021-01-08 11:03:32 we updated the Wells Fargo bank page.
On 2021-01-07 17:28:29 we updated the Coastal GasLink pipeline project page.
On 2021-01-07 16:12:36 we updated the UniCredit bank page.
External News
Bank lending to plastics industry faces scrutiny as pollution concerns mount
2021-01-07 00:00:00
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Reuters
Just Share's analysis of Standard Bank's new fossil fuels financing policy
2020-12-10 00:00:00
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Just Share
Malaysia's CIMB commits to phase out coal financing by 2040
2020-12-08 00:00:00
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Reuters
BlackRock, Storebrand pressure Indian bank over coal mining loan
2020-12-04 00:00:00
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Bloomberg
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