The fight against climate change According to Greenpeace, the banks will cause their loans less CO2 banks do however continue to be little to stop climate change, according to a new study. It has a clean data, it should also be able to measure the Co2-footprint, the banks, through their financing trigger. Holger Alich0 KommentareEin truck transports 250 tons of coal from a Mine in the U.S. state of Montana. Banks pledge to Finance fewer of such climate-damaging activities. Photo: Matthew Brown (Keystone)
When Greenpeace hangs up a study as to the extent to which Swiss banks pulling their financing activities to the climate change, so the result is expectable. Also in the latest edition of the annual study, the environmental organization settles with the promise of the banks, a sustainable economic use. “Which of the two (Large)banks’ financed emissions exceed the CO2 footprint of Switzerland in each of the last four years,” said the Greenpeace paper.
However, the study also contains Surprising: According to the data of the CO2-emissions resulting from the corporate Finance business of UBS and Credit Suisse fell – at least in the last 2 years. It was 2017 in the amount of 113 million tonnes of CO2, decreased the value in the year 2019 to nearly 54 million tonnes.
Georg Klingler, climate expert at Greenpeace Switzerland, advises, however, to give this view too much attention. He refers to the year 2016, the UBS and CS funded CO2 emissions from fossil fuels 52 million tons had to be – and was thus lower than in 2019. “You could say that since the decision of the Paris climate agreement at the Swiss big banks, not much has happened,” says Klingler.
The Greenpeace expert, however, nuances. He refers to the fact that the UBS is financed in the recent period a little less on fossil fuels. “But the Trend is too young to be able to glean from this, that the climate targets will begin to engage in the credit policy,” the Greenpeace expert.
The data of Greenpeace is based on the study “Banking on Climate Change” (https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Banking_on_Climate_Change__2020_vF.pdf), published, among other things, of the largest U.S. conservation organization the Sierra Club. In an international comparison, UBS and Credit Suisse are not, according to this study, too bad: The Credit Suisse, which is traditionally strong in the energy sector, in the year 2019, with almost $ 15 billion in financing of fossil energies on rank 17, the UBS comes with a volume of 6.5 billion dollars on rank 27. The places one to four are evidence of the large US banks led by J. P. Morgan.
Greenpeace has assigned the loans to 101 companies in the energy sector. In a second step, it was calculated how much fossil fuels can be funded with the available funding. And this, in turn, is the Basis for the calculation of the Bank financing the resulting CO2 emissions.
The method has blur naturally. In the case of a mixed group refers to, for example, its sales to 50 percent from the Oil extraction and wind farms, is not visible from the outside, in which one of the two divisions of a Bank credit flows at the end. Thus, the credit according to the Greenpeace is beat method in accordance with a flat rate of 50 percent of the Ölsparte the course.
another point of criticism of the banks is that they Finance, but also with CO2-heavy companies, just so they can get fit for a climate-friendly economy. This would not take account of Greenpeace in its study.
“To the climate objectives, emissions must fall in absolute terms, and banks need to make their contribution.”
Georg Klingler, climate expert at Greenpeace Switzerland
“UBS is designed to support ambitious climate strategy and an orderly Transition to a CO2-poor economy, which is what the Paris climate agreement”, declares the UBS. The CO2-related assets in the balance sheet would amount to 0.8 percent of the balance sheet, or 1.9 billion dollars, accounted for by the Bank.
the Credit Suisse does not want to be inaction to blame: in 2019, the big Bank introduced a group-wide climate strategy. New coal-fired power plants would not be financed any longer. “As a global financial institution, Credit Suisse acknowledges its responsibility in the fight against climate change and is aware of the fact that the financial flows have to be brought with the goals of the Paris agreement,” said a spokesman. The areas of coal, Oil, and Gas today would amount to a low single-digit amount of the loan portfolio. to achieve
“the climate change targets, emissions must fall in absolute terms, and banks have to do their part,” demands Greenpeace representative Klingler. The available data were still no clear Trend in this direction in the case of the two big banks.
finally, a clear data, it should be able to measure the banks ‘ CO2 footprint. For this purpose, the Federal office for the environment has initiated together with the state Secretariat for international financial matters this year, a new climate test. He should examine not only the investment policy of pension funds, but also the credit policy of the banks on their CO2 footprint. The Swiss bankers Association recommends that banks participate. Results should be available in the autumn – but they are only published for the industry as a whole and not on the level of individual institutions.
The first climate test by 2017, the 79 pension funds and insurance companies took part, from the financial industry is not a good testimony. Therefore, the industry promotes a climate warming of 4 to 6 degrees.
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