Thursday 5 November 2020: NAB’s full year results presentation released today reveals the bank is “expected” to exit thermal coal mining by 2030, five years earlier than its inadequate official commitment to exit by 2035. NAB’s announcement last year that it would exit thermal coal mining by 2035 drew widespread … Read More
ANZ to exit thermal coal by 2030. Though funding continues for fossil fuel expansion.
29 October 2020 Today ANZ released new and updated coal policies as part of its full year results, promising to exit thermal coal by 2030 and immediately stop funding new thermal coal mines and coal-fired power stations. This means no major Australian bank or insurer is willing to back thermal … Read More
Westpac sets thermal coal exit date, re-commits to Paris alignment
4 May, 2020 Westpac’s Climate Change Action Plan Update, released today, is another nail in the coffin for thermal coal, while the seriousness of the bank’s broader commitment to lend in line with the Paris Agreement climate goals will be revealed in time via its oil and gas lending. Westpac … Read More
Too little, too late: NAB’s new climate policy an exercise in greenwash
15 November 2019: NAB’s Sustainability Report, released today, is little more than greenwash and a recipe for climate catastrophe, says environmental finance group Market Forces. In particular, its central announcement to exit thermal coal mining by 2035 is a clear example of too little too late, falling short of time … Read More
Westpac and HSBC violate their coal policies to fund Adani Carmichael
Adani’s Abbot Point coal port. Credit: Dean Sewell23 August 2019 Over 55 major corporations, from banking and insurance to engineering and construction have ruled out working on the disastrous Adani Carmichael coal project. Two of these are Westpac and HSBC. Back in 2016 HSBC announced it would no longer finance … Read More
HSBC’s cynical coal policy leaves Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia open for business
HSBC’s coal power policy, released at its April 2018 AGM, boldly states it will not finance new coal-fired power plants, with some exceptions. It will still finance projects in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia, with further limits on the carbon intensity and financial close dates of the projects. 23 January 2019 … Read More
CommBank: All talk, still no walk on fossil fuel finance
Brisbane, 7 November 2018 At today’s Commonwealth Bank annual general meeting (AGM), chairwoman Catherine Livingstone told shareholders she believed it was unlikely the bank would finance any new ‘greenfield’ fossil fuels proposals. Such projects include coal mines, oil and gas fields, and fossil fuel infrastructure built on completely new sites. “It’s … Read More
The power of finance to slow new coal plants
Market Forces in the media By Julien Vincent, executive director Op-ed in the Asia Times, August 29, 2018 So far, 2018 has seen seven banks dominant in Southeast Asia either release or update their policies related to coal, the single-biggest source of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide. This number is soon to … 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