New research from climate activist ShareAction has found that Europe’s largest banks are falling short of internationally agreed standards to manage the global climate and biodiversity crisis.
The research, published on December 12, was conducted on Europe’s top 25 banks and studied their approaches to tackling climate change and protecting the world’s natural habitats.
ShareAction stated that despite all 25 banks committing their businesses to a net-zero by 2050 target, they are still not doing enough to prevent the climate crisis and “urgently need to improve many of their practices.”
The ShareAction research noted that banks’ lack of transparency is leading to under reporting of their support for “high-carbon sectors” and that banks’ green finance strategies leave “too much room for greenwashing.”
It also found that fossil fuel policies are “full of loopholes that make them unfit for alignment with the 1.5°C goal.”
Peter Uhlenbruch, director of financial sector standards at ShareAction, said, “despite important steps forward, the leadership of Europe’s top banks are not moving fast enough to drive the change needed to protect people and the planet,” adding that the responsible investment NGO has written to the banks’ CEOs setting out tailored recommendations for fixing issues in their climate and biodiversity strategies.
“Banks have made promises to investors and the public – it’s time they deliver on those commitments,” Uhlenbruch contended.