Press release – 13 August, 2017August 14, 2017: The climate policy released today by the Commonwealth Bank is significantly worse than expected and will do nothing to restore the bank’s tattered reputation.CommBank today released a one-page “Climate Policy Position Statement” which now makes them the only of the “big four” to not restrict lending around coal projects, and sees them fall far behind the standard set by other banks.
“A climate policy that doesn’t mention coal or fossil fuels is not a climate policy at all,” Greenpeace campaigner Jonathan Moylan said.
“The Commonwealth Bank commit in their policy to support a transition to net zero emissions by 2050 but then make a mockery of that promise by failing to outline any significant measures to achieve that goal.
“By failing to exclude highly polluting fossil fuel projects like coal mines, CommBank have fallen far behind other banks such as HSBC and Deutsche Bank.”
More than 90,000 people have called on CommBank to rule out fossil fuel projects and the bank is also subject to legal action for having failed to consider climate change a material financial risk in their 2016 annual report.
Moylan said that the bank’s recognition of the risk climate change poses to investors through its adoption of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations around climate related risks was welcome, but noted that the bank has again failed to take action.
“In this policy, CommBank states they recognise that climate related risks are real but then fail to take any significant measures to curb them,” Moylan said.
“This is flagrant hypocrisy from an institution struggling to protect its name after wave after wave of scandals.
“By continuing to invest in the coal industry, CommBank have failed both the Australian people and their own shareholders by exposing them to the risk of catastrophic climate change.”
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Simon Black
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