<
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2023/feb/09/natwest-to-end-new-business-loans-for-oil-and-gas-extraction>
"NatWest has announced it will stop offering loans to new customers hoping to
fund oil and gas exploration, extraction or production projects, as part of a
wider climate transition plan due to be unveiled next week.
The banks’s chief executive, Alison Rose, said similar steps would be taken to
phase out the same funding for existing customers, meaning the bank would
refuse to renew, refinance or extend loans for upstream gas projects from the
start of 2026.
“We want to ensure our capital is being used to support a transition while
continuing to reduce the financing of harmful emissions,” Rose said.
“I hope this sends a strong signal that we are serious about ending the most
harmful activity while financing the transition,” she added.
Rose made the announcement as she trailed the release of the bank’s first
climate transition plan, which is due to be unveiled alongside the bank’s
full-year results next Friday. The plan, which will be one of the first
released by a UK bank, will give a sector-by-sector breakdown of how NatWest
will halve the emissions created by the projects and companies it finances by
2030.
Rose said that the bank – which is still 48% owned by the UK government – would
be “prioritising sectors with high emissions rates or balance sheet exposure
values”.
However, the amount of carbon-heavy projects that NatWest funds as a proportion
of its overall loan book is relatively small, accounting for 0.7% of its
outstanding loans, worth about £3.3bn as of last year."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews-water-vietnam-stunting-indonesia-conservation-ecuador/>
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
