Home > Campaigns > Banks > ANZ – Bank AGM Season Update – Dec 2023

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Bank AGM Season 2023

ANZ, NAB and Westpac continue to undermine their commitments to the Paris Agreement by financing companies that are expanding the fossil fuel industry.

The good news is, from 2025 each of the big four will require fossil fuel companies to have emissions reduction plans (transition plan) in order to receive new lending. That means, if a fossil fuel company cannot demonstrate on paper that it has a plan to scale down its emissions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement they could be ineligible to receive financial support from Australia’s largest lenders.

But with their policies as is, there’s plenty of loopholes that could see the big four continue to pour money into climate wrecking companies up until 2025 and beyond.

We’re putting pressure on the banks to ensure they don’t give another cent to climate-wrecking companies. But we need your help!

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Tell ANZ, Westpac and Nab to close their fossil fuel finance gaps, and end their relationship with climate wreckers once and for all!

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Your message to NAB

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Your message

Please feel free to personalise the message! Let NAB know if you are a customer or shareholder.

Dear NAB,

I was pleased to hear that you have provided more clarity of what your translation plan expectations will be and which companies they will apply to. However, I am deeply disappointed to see that NAB has delayed this expectation for another two years, and that NAB did not strengthen project lending restrictions in the interim.

The science is clear: new and expanded fossil fuel projects are not aligned with the world’s climate goals. As such, the delayed implementation of policies that restrict lending to companies expanding the fossil fuel industry is untenable. NAB’s policy update and lending behaviour continues to be at odds with efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C and does not align with your commitment to the Paris Agreement.

At your AGM, 28.3% of your shareholders voted for a resolution demanding you close the gaps in your fossil fuel finance policy. If this many shareholders were voting against the company’s executive bonus packages or the election of a board member, you would be scrambling to address shareholders' concerns.

In March 2022, NAB loaned $290 million to Global Infrastructure Partners for the Pluto 2/Scarborough gas project; in August 2022, you took part in a $1.8 billion loan to Santos; and in November 2022 you acted as a joint book runner for a $644 million bond to one of the biggest LNG facilities in the world with massive expansion plans, Sabine Pass. Allowing fossil fuel companies another two years to access finance to develop new projects without requiring a Paris-aligned transition plan is unacceptable.

I was also deeply dismayed that NAB failed to restrict facilitation or arrangement of bonds for fossil fuel companies. If NAB is to be taken seriously on climate, it must rule out bonds for fossil fuel companies whose actions are inconsistent with global climate goals. Your peers, CommBank and Westpac, have both made commitments to not facilitate or arrange bonds for companies in some fossil fuel sub sectors, a step that NAB must also urgently adopt.

NAB’s very recent lending behaviour shows the bank is still willing to hand out cash to some of the world’s biggest climate wreckers, enabled by the gaps in your policy.

I, therefore, sincerely request that you:

- Bring forward your Paris-aligned transition plan requirements to the beginning of calendar year 2025, in line with CommBank – if not sooner;
- Require these transition plans to be aligned with a 1.5°C pathway;  
- Require these transition plans to not just disclose emissions but explicitly require scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reductions targets;
- Add restrictions on facilitating or arranging bonds for fossil fuel companies who fail to meet these transition plan expectations;
- Rule out providing all types of new finance (project finance; corporate finance, and arranging or facilitating bonds) to all fossil fuel companies without 1.5°C-aligned transition plans; 
- Between now and the date NAB requires transition plans from, do not provide financial support (corporate finance, project finance or bonds) to any project or company that expands the fossil fuel sector.

On behalf of all your customers, shareholders and all Australians who care about a safe future for our communities and our families, I sincerely urge you to adopt these requests.

Your consideration and response on this matter is highly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Your message to Westpac

Subject

Your message

Please feel free to personalise the message! Let Westpac know if you are a customer or shareholder.

Dear Westpac,

I was pleased to hear of the progress you made in your recent climate policy update. In particular, I was relieved to learn that Westpac will not be directly financing new coal mines, oil and gas fields and the infrastructure that unlocks them, like pipelines and LNG plants. Knowing that Westpac  will no longer be able to directly enable climate wrecking projects provides at least some reassurance that progress is being made.

I was also pleased to learn that Westpac will no longer be providing any type of finance to pureplay thermal coal companies. 
Whilst this progress is welcome, I was deeply disappointed to learn that you have delayed when you will require companies to have transition plans in place. Giving climate-wrecking fossil fuel companies more time to access finance while they are developing new projects goes against efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C and your commitment to the Paris Agreement.

At your AGM, 21.5% of your shareholders voted for a resolution demanding you close the gaps in your fossil fuel finance policy. If this many shareholders were voting against the company’s executive bonus packages or the election of a board member, you would be scrambling to address shareholders' concerns.

I am concerned that by enabling an extra nine months of unchecked finance to fossil fuel producers Westpac could push through deals that enable companies to action new fossil fuel projects. This concern is well-founded based on Westpac’s recent lending behaviour; in a nine month period in 2022 Westpac loaned $482 million to Woodside, Santos, and Global Infrastructure Partners for the Pluto 2 LNG project – all incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

In recent months, Westpac has acted as co-placement agent for a $1.3 billion Santos bond and participated in a $2.3 billion loan to massive Japanese gas producer, trader and power company, JERA. Santos has five new and expanded oil and gas projects in the pipeline and is on a path to increase its oil and gas production by 60% between 2022 and 2030, while JERA is pursuing several new LNG to power projects in Bangladesh and Vietnam, as well as being Santos’s project partner in the disastrous Barossa gas project.

Westpac’s very recent lending behaviour shows the bank is still willing to hand out cash to some of the world’s biggest climate wreckers, enabled by the gaps in your policy.

I, therefore, sincerely request that you:

- Reinstate your previous Paris-aligned transition plan requirements to be in place from the beginning of calendar year 2025, like CommBank – if not sooner; 
- Require transition plans from all fossil fuel companies, including  metallurgical coal miners and fossil fuel power generators, and companies building infrastructure to unlock new fossil fuel supply; 
- Rule out providing all types of new finance (project finance, corporate finance, and arranging or facilitating bonds) to all fossil fuel companies without 1.5°C-aligned transition plans; 
- Between now and the date Westpac will require transition plans from, do not provide any new finance (project finance, corporate finance, or bonds) to any project or company that expands the fossil fuel sector.

On behalf of all your customers, shareholders and all Australians who care about a safe future for our communities and our families, I sincerely urge you to adopt these requests.

Your consideration and response on this matter is highly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Your message to ANZ

Subject

Your message

Please feel free to personalise the message! Let ANZ know if you are a customer or shareholder.

Dear ANZ,

Since 2016, your bank has poured the most amount of money into fossil fuels out of all Australian banks, a staggering $18.6 billion.

In 2022, ANZ was the biggest lender to the fossil fuel industry - $2.6 billion -  almost the same amount ANZ loaned to fossil fuels back in 2016.

Your bank has failed to rein in its fossil fuel lending since the Paris Agreement.

At ANZ’s AGM, Chairman Paul O’Sullivan said that everything ANZ is investing in is creating more responsible companies that have to prove how they’re going to reduce their emissions.

This claim does not stack up against the bank's actual behaviour. Over the last two years, ANZ loaned $2.9 billion to companies and projects with plans to expand the fossil fuel sector.

In recent months alone the bank participated in arranging a $1.3 billion bond for Santos and a $2.3 billion loan to JERA, two companies with massive gas expansion plans.

You can’t reduce emissions while expanding fossil fuels.

I am deeply concerned by the massive flaws in ANZ’s recently updated climate policy. These policies must be urgently revised to give the bank any chance of meeting its Paris climate commitments.

ANZ used its recent policy update to push back its timeline of expectations for companies to have transition plans in place until October 2025, allowing fossil fuel companies almost two more years of borrowing without having to review their plans to reduce or increase emissions.

Even then, under your requirements these companies will not have to include Paris-aligned scope 3 emissions in their transition plans, rendering the policy meaningless.

This demonstrates a clear lack of urgency from ANZ amidst the worsening climate crisis.

Scope 3 emissions typically account for 90% of upstream fossil fuel companies’ emissions.

To not consider whether a company is reducing its largest source of emissions in line with global climate goals before providing new finance is farcical. This policy loophole provides a licence for fossil fuel companies to keep producing more coal, oil and gas with no financial consequences from ANZ.

Furthermore, ANZ has failed to rule out facilitating or arranging bonds, leaving the door open to arrange long-life finance that could fund fossil fuel companies without credible emissions reductions plans for decades.

ANZ also fails to require transition plans for metallurgical coal miners, a major driver of the climate crisis, and does not specify whether it expects customers to have a 1.5°C target or even a far more disastrous ‘well below 2°C’ target in their ‘Paris-aligned’ transition plans.

As if all this isn’t bad enough, ANZ is the only big four Australian bank to still not rule out directly financing new oil and gas fields, and is reportedly in talks with developers about funding a monstrous new gas project in Papua New Guinea, Papua LNG.

ANZ’s woeful policy update and rampant fossil fuel financing behaviour means the bank must completely overhaul its thinking on climate, review how and why the bank is failing to effectively manage climate risk, and bring its transition plan expectations in line with those of ANZ’s own climate commitments.

I, therefore, sincerely request that you:

- Reinstate your previous transition plan requirements to be in place from the beginning of calendar year 2025, like CommBank – if not sooner; 
- Require transition plans from all fossil fuel companies; 
- Require these transition plans be aligned to a 1.5°C pathway; 
- Require scope 3 emissions reduction targets; 
- Rule out providing all types of new finance (project finance, corporate finance, and arranging or facilitating bonds) to all fossil fuel companies without 1.5°C-aligned transition plans
- Commit to denying  financial support (corporate finance, project finance or bonds) to any project or company that expands the fossil fuel sector.

On behalf of all your customers and Australians who care about a safe future for our communities and our families, I sincerely urge you to take urgent action towards these requests.

Your consideration and response on this matter is highly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Yes, I want to hear more from Market Forces about this campaign

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TOOK ACTION: Banks - ALL BANKS Policy Update - Nov 2023

ANZ’s AGM turns into climate circus

7 January 2024

ANZ’s AGM in Brisbane was turned into a literal circus by a number of shareholders clearly fed up with the bank’s rampant financing of fossil fuel expansion in a climate crisis.
The ANZ Board stood and watched as jugglers, clowns, and circus performers took over the room, sending a clear signal that a number of shareholders view ANZ’s climate inaction as a joke.
ANZ has been Australia’s biggest backer of fossil fuels ($18.6 billion) and fossil fuel expansion ($11.1 billion) since the Paris Agreement.
The bank was also confronted over its lack of formal response to a human rights complaint lodged by Larrakia and Tiwi Islands Traditional owners related to ANZ financing Santos’ Barossa project.
CEO Shayne Elliot joined his peers at CommBank and Westpac in making a commitment to visit the Tiwi Islands early in 2024 to discuss the complaint.

ANZ's climate circus. A cicus performer blows bubbles while on another's shoulders, at the ANZ AGM

ANZ is by far the biggest supporter of fossil fuels in Australia’s banking sector. ANZ’s financial support for climate-wrecking companies is so out of line that in November 2023 an ANZ shareholder filed a claim in the Federal Court over concerns the bank was failing to adequately manage climate risk.

ANZ is the only big four Australian bank yet to rule out providing project finance for new oil and gas fields, an astonishingly bad policy given that experts have said for years these projects are incompatible with limiting warming to 1.5°C.

ANZ won’t even require fossil fuel companies to have Paris-aligned scope 3 emissions reductions targets as part of their emissions reduction plans. It’s hard to overstate how big of a flaw that is, considering that scope 3 emissions often account for 90% of fossil fuel mining companies’ emissions.

But with increasing pressure from shareholders, customers, and the community, it’s starting to seem like ANZ can’t carry on with its climate circus act any longer.

Shareholder resolution

Along with hundreds of shareholders, Market Forces put forward a member statement at ANZ’s AGM, urging investors to demand detail from the bank on how it will ensure all future fossil fuel finance is aligned with Paris.

ANZ announced in its 2023 climate disclosures that it would be requiring ‘energy sector’ companies to have a transition plan by the end of 2025 in order to receive new lending. But the loopholes in its policy are substantial and unlikely to stop the bank from continuing to finance climate wreckers. You can refer to our latest detailed analysis of ANZ’s policy shortcomings for more information.

ANZ board at the ANZ annual general meeting

ANZ Chairman Paul O’Sullivan

Tiwi Islands and the Santos human rights complaint

In April, Traditional Owners filed a human rights complaint at ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac over the banks involvement in a loan related to Santos’ Barossa project, a loan that appallingly was given while Traditional Owners were challenging Santos over its shoddy consultation process.

The human rights complaint made several requests of each bank, including to publicly apologise to Traditional Owners, to provide information about any human rights due diligence done by the bank and to meet the Claimants for a dialogue on-country.

“The banks are not thinking about us or our winga (saltwater). They are disrespecting our wishes and our cultural heritage the same way Santos is. I’m very hurt. We all feel hurt that they aren’t listening to us. When Santos drill, the banks are also drilling into our bodies. They are exactly the same. The bank is giving Santos the money to go ahead with destroying us and who we are.”

– Carol Maria Puruntatameri

In the lead up to the AGM, we understood that ANZ was still yet to formally respond to the human rights complaint.

At Westpac’s AGM the week prior, CEO Peter King committed to engaging with a dialogue on Tiwi Country with the Traditional Owners. ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott was asked by Market Forces banks campaigner Kyle Robertson if he would be joining his peer in making this commitment.

Mr. Elliott responded by saying “the simple answer is yes”, following on to say that he intends to make a trip to the Tiwi Islands early in 2024 to discuss the human rights complaint.

It was another significant moment for Tiwi Islands Traditional Owners, who have now drawn commitments from the CEOs of ANZ, CommBank and Westpac to visit the Tiwi Islands and discuss the human rights complaint. NAB is embarrassingly the only one of the big four yet to commit to a visit.

Bushfire survivor confronts board over reckless fossil fuel finance

ANZ was grilled by CEO of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, Serena Joyner, over its rampant financing of fossil fuel expansion since the Paris Agreement.

In an impassioned address to the ANZ board, Ms. Joyner pointedly questioned whether ANZ “wants to be the bank that helps Australians own homes or the bank that fuels the climate disasters that are costing Australians their homes”.

In light of a recent Federal Court of Australia filing by one of ANZ’s shareholders, Ms. Joyner asked the board how it intends to reduce its exposure to climate risk, risks that are not only borne by the bank but also everyday Australians.

In response, Chairman Paul O’Sullivan, repeatedly referred to ANZ as a responsible lender, before stating “those companies are going to get finance from somewhere, so it’s better that they get it from a responsible lender like us.”

Ms. Joyner pointed out that this argument has been referred to as the ‘drug dealer’s defence’, and that every expansion of fossil fuels makes our homes, communities and planet less safe.

Mr.O’Sullivan replied by saying that everything ANZ is investing in is creating more responsible companies that have to prove how they’re going to reduce their emissions. This claim does not stack up with the bank’s actual behaviour. Over the previous two years, ANZ loaned $2.9 billion to companies and projects expanding the fossil fuel sector. In recent months alone it participated in arranging a $1.3 billion bond to Santos and a $2.3 billion loan to JERA, two companies with massive gas expansion plans. You can’t reduce emissions while expanding fossil fuels.

It’s time for ANZ to stop treating its shareholders, customers, staff and the Australian public like fools and actually start acting like a truly responsible lender by cutting off all finance for fossil fuel expansion.

Take Action! Tell ANZ to live up to its commitments and stop funding new fossil fuels below.

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