Antinuclear

ANZ and Commonwealth Bank, previously named as the largest lenders to fossil fuels, both signalled they were actively reducing loans to some carbon-intensive sectors including the coal industry,

• Westpac and National Australia Bank have also toughened their stance on lending to coal mining recently, as all four banks are targeted by environmental groups.

  Even so, critics of all four banks maintain much more action is needed in order to meet the climate change targets that banks say they support.

• Market Forces conducted a detailed survey of the big four banks’ project finance – lending to a specific mine or project, rather than a corporation – since the big four supported the Paris agreement to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees.

  Its analysis, to be released on Monday, did not find a single new project finance loan that went towards expanding coal mining since late 2015. This has partly reflected weak conditions in coal mining, but banks signalled it was also partly because of a toughening in coal lending……..

• Despite the decline in coal lending, Market Forces found new lending for gas, oil and liquefied natural gas in Australia and overseas was far greater, with more than $17 billion lent to fossil fuel since the Paris commitments. This was more than three times the new lending to renewables, it said…….
• Market Forces, an affiliate of Friends of the Earth Australia, obtains its data from company filings and specialist news services that monitor bank lending.

  Banks do not disclose directly comparable figures on their carbon exposure, but the banks’ own figures on carbon exposure have also shown a decline in coal mine lending. http://www.theage.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/big-four-banks-slash-lending-to-coal-miners-20170720-gxf9u8.html