Solutions

What banks need to do

The answer is clear: banks need to stop funnelling billions of dollars into fossil fuel companies and their endless oil and gas expansion projects. What does that look like? These four steps would harness the power of finance to limit the worst of the climate crisis. Banks need to:

001 STOP FUNDING NEW FOSSIL FUELS

Banks should stop all funding to fossil fuel companies drilling for new oil and gas

The science couldn't be clearer. We need to immediately halt all new oil and gas extraction to have a 50% chance of avoiding the worst of the climate crisis. While banks continue piling billions of dollars into the fossil fuel industry, they cut that chance dramatically, and they know it.

002 RADICALLY INCREASE CLEAN ENERGY FUNDING

For every £1 banks provide to fossil fuels, they need to provide £6 to clean energy in order to meet the global requirement for changing out energy systems

Right now, most banks are funding way more dirty energy than clean energy. This needs to radically flip so that the ratio of clean to dirty is 6:1. When this happens, we'll be meeting clean energy requirements

003 IMMEDIATELY PHASE OUT ALL COAL FUNDING

Coal is the most damaging fossil fuel in the world and it's got to go

Coal is on its way out. Its dirty extraction is on a downward trend, but banks should be stamping it out a lot faster. Banks are still pouring billions of dollars into new coal plants around the world. There's absolutely no need to hold on to such an old and toxic energy source.

004 PROTECT INDIGENOUS RIGHTS AND BIODIVERSITY

Ensure the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous communities and their lands in all financing activities.

Banks should not be funding the destruction of Indigenous peoples and the lands they live on. Banks must only fund clean energy activities that respect Indigenous rights to free, prior, and informed consent.

WHAT BANK REGULATORS NEED TO DO

Every country has their own regulators. The Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank are all regulators. They set the rules for how private banks operate in their country. And if they wanted to, they could make rules to stop private banks pouring billions into fossil fuels.

There are simple rules that can slap fossil fuel funding with a big “RISKY” sign, and make them way less profitable to invest in. Doing this, in line with making clean energy a very attractive prospect, would force banks to reroute money from fossil fuels into a safer future.