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Only 35% of European banks’ strategies are aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement
(Climate Action, 27 Apr 2020) According to new research by responsible investment organisation ShareAction, the European banking sector has made sluggish progress on tackling the climate crisis in the last three years.
Share Action ranked European banks’ on their performance on tackling climate change. 19 out of the 20 largest European banks’ submitted information to ShareAction in 2019. The latest ranking revealed how only 35% of surveyed banks claim their strategies on climate change are aligned with limiting global temperature rise to 2°C or below. Only 10% claim to be aligned with the Paris Agreements 1.5°C target. ShareAction expresses how the majority of European banks are still failing to perform adequately on climate change, despite the climate emergency.
This new research reveals which banks have improved on their climate change policies since 2017, when the last survey was conducted. The two main outcomes were:
- No bank in this new ranking exhibits a best-practice approach to climate change. BNP Paribas comes first, with Lloyds Banking Group singled out as most improved (it came last in the first edition, 2017.)
- Banks perform most poorly on the climate risk assessment and management with their support for coal, oil and gas, which risks overshadowing green finance commitments.
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