Why
Putting pressure on the banking sector to defund the fossil fuels industries could be one of the most effective actions that you can take though it wont directly affect your own carbon footprint.
Since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement the world's 35 biggest private-sector banks have invested $2.7 trillion in oil, gas and coal companies, despite their ‘net zero by 2050’ pledges. To help reduce your carbon footprint you can switch to an ESG focused retail, wholesale or wealth management bank. Avoid keeping your money in banks that continue to lend to, and invest in, fossil fuel industries.
How
Use SwitchIt to find out if your retail bank is funding fossil fuels, then switch to a recommended provider accordingly.
Before switching banks, send a letter to your old bank, calling on them to stop financing companies and projects that would expand the scale of the fossil fuel industry.
Read the UK Rating of 36 Banks on Carbon Management and Reporting to find out where banks are investing their money.
Recommendations
Ethical Banks
Triodos Bank (UK)
Starling Bank (UK)
Charity Bank (UK)
The Co-operative Bank (UK)
Mortgage Provider
Did you know?
Between 2016 - 2019:
The bank that did the most fossil fuel financing was JPMorgan Chase, followed by Wells Fargo (USA), Citi, and Bank of America.
In the UK, Barclays was the bank that did the most fossil fuel financing, RBC in Canada, MUFG in Japan and Bank of China in China (Banking on Climate Change Report, 2020)
Between 2018 - 2019:
BNP Paribas, Santander and CIBC, saw the biggest percentage increase in its fossil fuel financing (Banking on Climate Change Report, 2020)
List of 35 private-sector banks funding fossil fuels 2016 - 2019: Banking on Climate Change Report, 2020
UK banks Barclays and HSBC rank amongst the worst offenders in funding fossil fuels, despite their ‘net zero by 2050’ pledges at the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Together, between January and September 2020 Barclays ($24.58 billion) and HSBC ($19 billion) poured over $43 billion into fossil fuel companies including coal, tar sands, arctic drilling companies, and oil and gas.
Climate Action Bank Cards
Swedish fintech startup company Doconomy has introduced climate action banking to help people track and reduce the CO2 impact of their day-to-day purchases. Services include:
DO: "a mobile banking service that allows users to track their C02 emissions and compensate for their impact with a series of carbon offset projects."
DO Black: "a credit card branded as the world’s first with a carbon limit."
Spread the word
In order to keep warming below 1.5C we need to halve emissions by
2030. Share this action and help play a part in reversing climate change.
