<
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/05/us-banks-leave-esg-finance-climate-crisis>
"Four of the world’s biggest banks have left the Equator Principles, a set of
minimum industry standards and safeguards for financial institutions to address
environmental and social risks in countries where they finance fossil fuel and
mining projects.
The Equator Principles have been around for more than two decades, and while
not enforceable, they provide a basic framework of environmental standards that
banks agreed would underpin financing deals on pollution-causing extractive
projects.
The American banks – Citi, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo –
are listed as having left the group of institutions that have signed the
principles.
The news was condemned by climate groups as “shocking” and “cowardly”.
“It is a very troubling move by some of the biggest fossil fuel financing banks
in the world to abandon a bare minimum set of standards that banks themselves
have set. It is both ethically shocking and financially irresponsible. It is
becoming increasingly apparent these banks do not care about anything other
than the bottom line,” said Richard Brooks, the climate finance director at
Stand.earth.
“This is yet another display of cowardice that shows how Wall Street is bending
to pressure from climate-denier extremists rather than upholding some of their
most basic climate and human rights commitments,” said Adele Shraiman, the
Sierra Club’s fossil-free finance campaign senior strategist.
Spokespeople for the four banks all said they would continue to be informed by
those principles,
Reuters reported. But the banks’ names have been removed
from the Equator Principles list, which now includes 10 standards for aspects
of projects ranging from initial due diligence to grievance mechanisms.
The move is part of an alarming trend among banks headquartered in the US of
backpedaling on commitments on the climate and to vulnerable communities
affected by their financing deals."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
