20 September 2018 Today Suncorp demonstrated it has climate change firmly on its agenda and confirmed it continues to divest from fossil fuels. The company is one of Australia’s largest insurance providers, a sector recognised as highly exposed to the physical risks posed by climate change, such as weather-related catastrophes. Earlier this year, … Read More
Market Forces files complaint over Japanese banks’ coal lending breach of OECD guidelines
18 September 2018 Market Forces has made complaints against Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Mizuho Financial Group (Mizuho) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) to the Japanese National Contact Point (NCP) today. The complaint alleges that the three banks have breached the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (OECD Guidelines) through their conduct … Read More
Japanese bank policies rule out one third of overseas coal plant finance
Market Forces in the media RenewEconomy, 28 August 2018 Bernadette Maheandiran, Market Forces Legal Analyst In a major shift from some of the world’s largest funders of coal power, new policies should rule out financial support to a third of the coal-fired power stations currently under consideration by Japan’s three major … Read More
Ad urging Standard Chartered to stop funding dirty coal published across Asia
23 August 2018 Today, with the help of community donors and partner organisations, Market Forces published a full-page advertisement in the Financial Times Asia, urging Standard Chartered Bank to stop funding new coal-fired power plants. Click here to email Standard Chartered urging them to stop lending money to new coal Copies … Read More
ANZ finance the purchase of Rio’s last coal mine
5 April 2018 ANZ has contributed to a US$1.7 billion (AU$2.2 b) deal to finance the purchase of Rio Tinto’s last coal asset by Indonesian coal miner Adaro Energy and private equity manager EMR Capital. The deal comes despite ANZ’s repeated claims that the bank’s lending to coal is on its way … Read More
Australian bank policies still lag international peers
The fossil fuel lending policies of Australia’s big four banks have once again been found to fall short of international expectations. In the latest Banking on Climate Change Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card, only NAB’s coal mining policy, announced last year, scored higher than a C-. While it’s worth acknowledging … Read More
Media release: Japanese Banks under international fire over Vietnamese coal finance
Tuesday 13 March 2018 An international coalition of civil society organisations has written to SMBC, Mizuho and MUFG, warning of the risks associated with financing the 1,200MW Nghi Son 2 coal-fired power plant in Thanh Hoa province, Vietnam. The project is sponsored by Marubeni and the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). SMBC, … Read More
Media release: Standard Chartered breaches own climate change commitment, funds coal plant in Vietnam
Friday 9 February 2018 The London-based bank Standard Chartered is reportedly in line to co-finance the planned 1,200MW Nghi Son 2 coal-fired power plant in Thanh Hoa province, Vietnam. It is understood that the sponsors of the plant are seeking to finalise key financial agreements by the end of March … Read More
Media release: Singaporean banks blowing smoke on climate
A new analysis from environmental finance group Market Forces shines a light for the first time on Singaporean banks’ continued funding of the coal industry, despite public pronouncements on climate action. Market Forces analysed data relating to the lending activity of Singapore’s big three banks, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), DBS … Read More
Adani unravels and major institutions dump coal. This was 2017.
In the nearly five years since Market Forces began, there has not been a more successful and fast-changing year as 2017. Let’s take a look at the year that is rapidly coming to an end. A big thank you to all our supporters who took part in our campaigns and … Read More