Whelan also pushed back against calls for banks to cut fossil fuel lending more aggressively, by arguing ANZ could contribute through “engagement”.
All Australia’s major banks have faced criticism from green groups over their fossil financing, and the issue has been a major flashpoint at banks’ annual general meetings for years.
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Executive director of environmental finance group Market Forces Julien Vincent attacked ANZ’s $100 billion sustainable lending commitment on the basis some of this money could be used to finance fossil fuel businesses.
“We’ve yet to see any of the big four banks withhold finance from clients pursuing the expansion of the fossil fuel industry, but ANZ is the first to set up a fund that would back the polluters even further,” Vincent said.
Dr Stuart Palmer, head of ethics research at fund manager Australian Ethical, said carbon reduction targets were welcome, but the “big loophole” was that ANZ would allow new fossil fuel lending to continue until projects faced tougher assessments in 2025.
“There’s nothing in this, or in other major bank criteria, that is going to stop the Australian financial sector continuing to renew facilities to Santos, Woodside and so on, as they progress these massive oil and gas projects,” Palmer said. “If you’re an oil and gas company who wants to pursue your expansion, then you’re sort of getting a bit of a green light.”
Whelan said there calls for ANZ to immediately cease lending to companies in carbon-intensive sectors such as energy, but he argued this approach would not prevent the fossil fuel firms from accessing funds elsewhere.
“This approach may reduce ANZ’s exposures or ‘financed emissions’, however, it does not reduce emissions if the company receives funding from an alternate source,” Whelan said. “We are also then precluded from actively supporting the development of their net zero-aligned transition plans.”
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