Banking on a low-carbon future II (A ranking of the 20 largest European banks’ responses to climate change)

Share Action: Ranking of the 20 largest European banks based on their response to climate change (* Danske Bank chose not to participate in the survey, so was scored based on publicly available information only).

The leaders showed strong management of climate-related risks and opportunities across multiple assessed areas but none of the above banks merited the top tier of best practice.

Share Action noted that “Banks’ policies in relation to high-carbon sectors are currently still insufficient to ensure alignment with the goals of the Paris Agreement, and often they are just tinkering around the edges. While banks have largely stopped providing project finance for coal mining and coal power, policies on general corporate financing for companies reliant on coal are still missing”.

Banks have a key role to play in tackling climate change in terms of the companies that they finance and support and in meeting the Paris Agreement goals to ensure a more safe and equitable planet for current and future generations.

There has been positive progress and more commitment to climate change goals through the Principles for Responsible Banking and the Collective Commitment to Climate Action, which has over 33 banking signatories. However, Rainforest Action Network, Bank Track and others have commented that the worlds largest banks still funded over $2.7 Trillion in fossil fuel projects between 2016 and 2019.