24 January 2014
Last year it was ANZ being named “best in class” in the Dow Jones Sustainably Index’s banking sector. Then, overnight, Westpac claimed the title of the “world’s most sustainable firm” at the World Economic Forum in Davos. It’s hard to know where to look for answers to this paradoxical rewarding of companies that are so heavily involved in funding dirty coal, oil and gas that are driving the climate crisis . But while it doesn’t do much to help the credibility of those awarding these prizes, the winners are always quick to talk up their award.
Westpac was soaking up the glory when they were called out on twitter by Mark Doyle, who pointed out to Westpac’s Head of Sustainability the bank’s billion dollar plus lending to coal and gas exports since 2008. Check out the conversation that followed. While Westpac didn’t seem to have many answers as to their exposure to fossil fuels or whether they think its even ok to fund more fossil fuels in a climate crisis, Market Forces may have landed a gig assessing banks’ financed emissions! Feel free to weigh in to the conversation!
Honoured at our ranking at the top of the Global 100 #wef #global100 http://t.co/qapsdOKVfp
— Westpac Sustain (@WestpacSustain) January 22, 2014
Hooray“@WestpacSustain: Honoured at our ranking at the top of the Global 100 #wef #global100 http://t.co/KlLL2ZLejB”
— Emma Herd (@emmalherd) January 22, 2014
Weird considering WBC invested $1158million on Oz East Coast Coal+Gas projects since 08 @emmalherd @bencubby @WestpacSustain @market_forces
— Mark Doyle (@ffrickenstein) January 23, 2014
@ffrickenstein @bencubby @WestpacSustain @market_forces While current exposures for CleanTech & enviro services are $3.6bn…
— Emma Herd (@emmalherd) January 23, 2014
@emmalherd @ffrickenstein @bencubby @WestpacSustain how much investment in fossil fuels is ok in a climate crisis?
— Market Forces (@market_forces) January 24, 2014
@bencubby @drgcrisp @emmalherd @ffrickenstein @westpacsustain so what is Westpac’s total current #coal, #gas and #oil exposure?
— Market Forces (@market_forces) January 24, 2014
@market_forces @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain breakdown in Annual Sustainability Report http://t.co/FWhqDqLFCe
— Emma Herd (@emmalherd) January 24, 2014
@emmalherd @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain nope, the renewables stat is there but can’t see fossil fuel exposure
— Market Forces (@market_forces) January 24, 2014
@market_forces @emmalherd @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain i’m guessing it would very comfortably be in the billions.
— Ben Cubby (@bencubby) January 24, 2014
@market_forces @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain ANZIC codes don’t break down that way 1/2
— Emma Herd (@emmalherd) January 24, 2014
@market_forces @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain we are looking at models for measuring and reporting. Work in progress 2/2
— Emma Herd (@emmalherd) January 24, 2014
@emmalherd @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain righto. in the meantime, we’re happy to do the reporting for you!
— Market Forces (@market_forces) January 24, 2014
@market_forces @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain is it audited?
— Emma Herd (@emmalherd) January 24, 2014
@emmalherd @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain Banks can challenge, suggest alternative figures if any concerns with our data
— Market Forces (@market_forces) January 24, 2014
@market_forces @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain happy to audit it for you 🙂
— Emma Herd (@emmalherd) January 24, 2014
@emmalherd @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain will you then put the figure in your sustainability report? 🙂
— Market Forces (@market_forces) January 24, 2014
@market_forces @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain have you guys seen this? http://t.co/WSTedZOZ9s
— Emma Herd (@emmalherd) January 24, 2014
@emmalherd @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain yes – has Westpac calculated its financed emissions?
— Market Forces (@market_forces) January 24, 2014
@market_forces @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain this process is designing a standardised industry-wide methodology.
— Emma Herd (@emmalherd) January 24, 2014
@emmalherd @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain looking forward to seeing results!
— Market Forces (@market_forces) January 24, 2014
@market_forces @bencubby @DrGCrisp @ffrickenstein @WestpacSustain talk to me offline, you could participate.
— Emma Herd (@emmalherd) January 24, 2014