Crédit Agricole, Europe’s third largest bank, has delivered a major blow to TotalEnergies this week, declaring it will not finance Total’s proposed Papua Liquefied Natural Gas project (Papua LNG). Despite being the financial advisor to the project, and one of...
Will the funders of Santos’ Barossa project live up to their human rights commitments?
29 January 2023 Australia’s second biggest gas company, Santos, is able to proceed with its $5.7 billion offshore Barossa gas project, following a Federal Court decision earlier this month. Barossa is located in the Timor Sea north of Darwin and the Tiwi...
Big four banks make strides, but action still dangerously slow in a climate emergency
16 November 2023 All big four Australian banks have now released updated fossil fuel finance restrictions this year that have, to varying degrees, moved the dial on what they can’t finance going forward. But, like everything with the banks – the devil is in the...
NAB commits to future fossil finance restrictions, business as usual for next two years
10 November 2023 Yesterday NAB announced that from 1 October 2025 it will require the majority of fossil fuel companies to have Paris-aligned transition plans in place in order to provide additional lending. From that deadline, to get a corporate or project...
Westpac takes two steps forward, one big step back
8 November 2023 This week Westpac announced a host of new project finance restrictions for new and expanded fossil fuel projects, but also walked back a key policy that restricts finance to the companies developing them. In a disappointing regression on its...
CommBank avoids resolution, but warned it’s not off the hook on climate action
11 October 2023 Today, Commonwealth Bank faced questions from shareholders over the remaining gaps in its climate policy. This year, Market Forces, along with hundreds of shareholders decided not to file a resolution on climate-related risk at the CommBank AGM. This...
Australian and Japanese banks receive warning to stay out of Papua LNG
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 Ahead of TotalEnergies’ Investor Day in France, Australian banks ANZ and NAB and Japanese banks MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho received letters from Market Forces, Jubilee Australia and Papua New Guinean civil society organisation CELCOR (Center...
CommBank’s climate policy update leaves ANZ, NAB and Westpac in the dust
9 August 2023 This morning Commonwealth Bank announced a host of new fossil fuel finance restrictions, bringing Australia’s biggest bank closer to alignment with its commitments to the goals of the Paris Agreement and net zero emissions by 2050. Announcing a series of...
Big four banks loan $10.7 billion to coal since Paris Agreement
10 May 2023 Market Forces’ new analysis shows Australia’s big four banks – ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac – have loaned a combined $10.7 billion to the coal industry since the Paris Agreement was signed, with ANZ ($3.6 billion) and NAB ($3.3 billion) the...
Australia’s big four banks face human rights complaint over Santos Barossa financing
5 April 2023 Tiwi Islands and Larrakia Traditional Owners have lodged formal complaints alleging the big four Australian banks - ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac – and a host of international financiers breached their human rights commitments by participating...