Macquarie has ranked last when it comes to a new benchmark that analyses the climate strategies of Australia's 5 biggest banks.
Out of a score of 100, Macquarie received just 50.19, ANZ was only slightly above (50.85) and next in line were NAB (58.1), CommBank (57.86) and Westpac (61.85).
While Westpac received the top spot, serious concerns remain on its oil and gas policy and across all banks there is a growing gap with climate promises and meaningful climate action.
The report's key findings:
- All major banks still lack clear policies to end support for new oil and gas projects.
- Banks are beginning to close loopholes on fossil fuel lending by restricting bonds facilitation for polluting projects.
- Banks are starting to align executive remuneration with climate change metrics.
- CommBank, NAB, Westpac and ANZ have all set some form of requirement for fossil fuel intensive companies to implement a transition plan by 2025, but details on how the transition plans will be assessed remain elusive.
- Commbank is the only bank that is no longer refinancing clients that lack Paris aligned transition plans.
- Troubling inconsistencies have emerged in how some banks reports climate solutions finance as compared to how they report on financed emissions, for example, Macquarie has reported the total renewable capacity that they support despite only financing a small share of that capacity.
"There has been progress across the sector, but it needs to accelerate rapidly to spur on the decarbonisation of our economy that's needed to address the climate crisis as Australians face another summer of extreme weather," said Jonathan Moylan, ACF's corporate campaigner and a co-author of the report.
"The majority of progress made by banks this year was due to the tightening of lending policies to environmentally harmful industries, but bank lending policies remain the area requiring the most action for banks to meet their net zero commitments.
"It is encouraging to see some movement on tackling deforestation, with Westpac adopting a zero-deforestation policy for livestock agriculture.
"This assessment comes at a pivotal moment in Australia's decarbonisation journey, with mandatory climate-related financial disclosures due to begin from 1 January 2025.
"While there is encouraging progress, banks cannot rest on their laurels. The stakes are too high - for communities, for nature, for the economy - for banks to shirk their responsibility, as Australian corporate citizens and prudent fiduciaries."
