Push Admin

Major banks commit to carbon neutrality by 2050

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/reuters/04/22/global.jpg"/><figcaption>The Eiffel Tower is surrounded by a small-particle haze which hangs above the skyline in Paris, France, December 9, 2016 as the City of Light experienced the worst air pollution in a decade. <em>Gonzalo Fuentes, Reuters/File Photo</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>PARIS - A group of 43 international banks including sector heavyweights have joined a UN-convened pact to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, the world body said Wednesday.</p><p>The move, however, failed to impress climate campaigners who say it is not enough.</p><p>Bringing together household names like Barclays, HSBC, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas, the &quot;Net Zero Banking Alliance&quot; members vowed to make greenhouse gas emissions from their lending and investment portfolios &quot;align with pathways to net-zero by 2050 or sooner&quot; with regularly updated intermediate goals.</p><p>&quot;All targets will be regularly reviewed to ensure consistency with the latest science,&quot; the United Nations&#x27; finance for the environment initiative UNEP FI said in a statement.</p><p>HSBC boss Noel Quinn said it was &quot;essential&quot; for banks to finance the green transition, adding that &quot;we have to establish a robust and transparent framework for monitoring progress... and we want to set that standard for the banking industry.&quot;</p><p>The group will also be a founding member of a sector-wide initiative -- the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) -- chaired by former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, the UN special envoy for climate action and finance.</p><p>&quot;GFANZ will work to mobilize the trillions of dollars necessary to build a global zero emissions economy and deliver on the goals of the Paris Agreement&quot; signed by the world&#x27;s governments in 2015, UNEP FI said.</p><p>Carney himself called the alliance &quot;the breakthrough in mainstreaming climate finance the world economy needs&quot; and &quot;the gold standard for net zero commitments&quot;.</p><p>GFANZ&#x27;s naming for Glasgow refers to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled to be held in Scotland&#x27;s biggest city in November.</p><p>As well as banks, UNEP FI said major global insurers and reinsurers were working on a similar project dubbed the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance.</p><p>But Reclaim Finance, an NGO that analyses the impact of activities of financial institutions, sees the move as a &quot;diversion&quot;.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s one of multiple initiatives and it&#x27;s becoming difficult to follow every detail,&quot; Reclaim Finance director Lucie Pinson told AFP.</p><p>The alliance commits banks to set targets for 2030 within 18 months of joining -- too late for Pinson, who also lamented that the commitments do not take into account the issuing of bonds and shares.</p><p>&quot;This could make a lot of noise with little to show for it,&quot; she said.</p><p>In a report, Reclaim Finance took issue Wednesday with the climate records of 29 European and US asset managers with portfolios totalling $34 trillion, saying less than half have a public policy to phase out coal.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/04/01/21/philippines-can-unlock-up-to-11-billion-from-recycling-plastic-yearly-world-bank">Philippines can unlock up to $1.1 billion from recycling plastic yearly: World Bank</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO: </strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1665462" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>A group of 43 international banks including sector heavyweights have joined a UN-convened pact to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, the world body said Wednesday.</p>

A group of 43 international banks including sector heavyweights have joined a UN-convened pact to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, the world body said Wednesday.