A new report, 'The UK's dirty coal secret', reveals that one year out from the UK’s hosting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in Glasgow, Barclays, HSBC, RBS and Standard Chartered have collectively supported the world’s top coal power expansion companies with $26.2 billion in financing during the period January 2017 to September 2019.  The NGOs publishing the report, BankTrack, urgewald and 350.org, have identified that this financing – project finance, corporate lending and underwriting…

The Co-operative Bank has signed a formal recognition agreement with The Customer Union for Ethical Banking, an independent organisation representing thousands of Co-operative Bank customers concerned about the UK’s social and environmental issues. This recognition agreement is the first time that a UK business has formally recognised a union of its customers, and strengthens the bank's position as a key player in ethical banking. Rob Harrison from the Customer Union said: “In this moment of climate crisis, it…

Friends of the Earth France and Oxfam France are publishing today, on the eve of Climate Finance Day which will bring major international finance players to Paris, a new report entitled "French banks’ colossal carbon footprint : a matter of State". They analyse greenhouse gas emissions from the financing and investment activities of the four main French banks - BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale and Banque Populaire Caisse d’Epargne - in the fossil fuel sector in 2018. The…

European coal campaigners have welcomed the publication of coal finance restrictions by UniCredit, the last major European bank to issue a formal coal policy, but also warned that this new approach allows the bank to continue supporting European coal utilities such as EPH in the Czech Republic which are posing a serious threat to the climate and public health. According to the latest NGO research, since the Paris Agreement was signed UniCredit has provided over $4 billion via lending and underwriting to companies still planning to develop new coal…

Banks are failing on human rights nearly a decade after new UN principles were established to guide their behavior, according to the third BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark, published today. Lloyds, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Société Générale are among the worst performers in the report, which ranks commercial banks from leaders to laggards according to their efforts to uphold human rights. “There is increasing ‘lip-service’ paid to human rights compliance by the biggest global banks,…

Ahead of the auctioning tomorrow (November 27) of exploration licenses for 14 onshore and offshore oil and gas blocks in the Dominican Republic, environmental groups are warning commercial banks not to financially back companies which may end up being awarded licenses.   Dominican group National Committee against Climate Change (CNLCC), Re:Common and BankTrack have raised concerns over the major climate risks and adverse environmental and social impacts which would result from the opening up of fossil fuel blocks in the country’s Cibao,…