MUFG and SMBC's UN climate exit signals a troubling retreat from sustainability Eri Watanabe is a senior Japan energy finance campaigner at Market Forces, a clean energy finance advocacy group working across Asia and Australia. Japan's two largest banks, MUFG and...
Blog
Is Japan a friend in need or a friend indeed for Bangladesh?
By Munira Chowdhury, Asia Energy Analyst, Market Forces, a clean energy finance advocacy organisation working across Asia. Munira is an author on Bangladesh energy affairs and a former policy researcher in Bangladesh. Six months since Bangladesh was born anew, the...
Japan’s trading houses have a duty to turn off the gas
Corporate giants are able to spread renewable energy and shape policies across Asia By Sachiko Suzuki, Asia climate and energy analyst for Market Forces, a Melbourne-based initiative researching the financing of environmentally destructive projects. Japan's largest...
Macquarie’s climate credentials up in smoke
By Kyle Robertson, Senior Banks Analyst, Market Forces. Macquarie Bank has sent shockwaves around the world quietly announcing it has quit the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) this week, taking the dubious honour of being the first major Australian financial...
Retail banks in Australia ‘burning our future’: pour $74 billion into fossil fuels
Tuesday 11 February: New Market Forces analysis finds 10 retail banks in Australia committed AU $74.4 billion in finance to fossil fuel companies around the world in 2023. The new report - The Dirty Ten: Banks in Australia still backing fossil fuels - also finds that...
Climate heat is still on investors despite BlackRock’s net zero exit
By Will van de Pol, CEO, Market Forces. Mr van de Pol is an expert in ethical asset management and clean energy finance. It is hard to rationalise the recent decisions United States banks and investors have made to quit climate initiatives at the same time as global...
Japan’s biggest trading companies delay clean energy by pushing gas
January 29 (Wed), 2025: New Market Forces analysis finds that Japan's seven largest trading companies and JERA, Japan's largest power company, are planning eight Giga Watts (GW) of gas-fired power generation projects across Asia, undermining the transition to clean...
ANZ – Bank AGM Season 2024
ANZ held its 2024 AGM in Melbourne on the 19th of December.
27.2% of ANZ shareholder votes were cast in favour of a Market Forces resolution calling for the bank to stop financing fossil fuel companies without Paris-aligned transition plans.
Westpac – Bank AGM Season 2024
Westpac held its 2024 AGM in Sydney on the 13th of December, and faced significant shareholder backlash for its failure to bring its fossil fuel finance policy in line with its commitments to the Paris Agreement.
NAB – Bank AGM Season 2024
At its 2024 AGM in Melbourne, NAB Chair Philip Chronican indicated that the bank will stop providing finance to fossil fuel extraction companies with expansion plans this year.