In good news for the planet, investors managing $11 trillion have called on the world’s biggest banks to phase out financing of fossil-fuel companies and throw their weight behind the goals of the Paris climate agreement, reports Bloomberg.
Asset managers have asked 27 banks to commit to eliminating emissions across their operations by 2050, including those generated from lending, trading and underwriting, and set interim reduction targets.
The group of 35 investors, which was convened by the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, also said the banks should expand their green finance activities and withdraw from any projects that are at odds with the Paris accord.
As the primary gatekeepers of capital for much of the world economy, banks have a critical role to play in efforts to limit global warming and growing numbers of activists, policy makers and investors are now calling on the industry to use its vast resources to facilitate the transition to a net-zero world.
“There is an urgent need for banks to take and accelerate action to support the goals of the Paris Agreement,” said Stephanie Pfeifer, chief executive officer of IIGCC. “Net-zero commitments must drive real change. With five years already elapsed since the Paris Agreement, talking the talk must be replaced with walking the walk.”