Greenpeace challenges banks over $1.4 trillion invested in fossil fuels since Paris Agreement

Since the groundbreaking Paris summit on climate change in 2015, 24 global banks have invested $1.4 trillion in the fossil fuel industry, according to Jennifer Morgan, Executive Director of Greenpeace International.

Greenpeace’s report, It’s the Finance Sector, Stupid puts the blame for the climate emergency at the feet of the banks, insurers and pension funds that participate in Davos. The report adds that $1 trillion could buy 640GW of solar power, more than the current global capacity.

However, financiers on the panel, tasked with solving the “green growth equation”, argued that the international financial system is fundamentally reshaping itself around how to transition to a net-zero economy. They are responding to the demands of their clients as well as directly feeling the heat through, for example, having to reprice the cost of insurance risk.

Governments are lagging behind. We are in the midst of the largest civil society protests since the Iraq and Vietnam wars, Morgan said, but “it’s actually the politics that’s holding us back on this”. She called on government leaders to take courage, sit down with experts, civil society and innovators, and put together what we know needs to be done. Carney pointed to November’s COP26 meeting in Glasgow as the opportunity to get private actors and regulators together to ensure that climate change is taken into account in every financial decision.

Panellists all agreed on one key issue – 2050 is far too late to achieve a net-zero economy.

Original source: World Economic Forum
Published on 21 January 2019