Standard Chartered to face shareholder action over climate change policies
Shareholders are set to eye Standard Chartered bank’s climate policies, according to environmental organisation Market Forces, revealing it has pumped $31.4bn into fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement.
The scrutiny comes as the bank confirmed its participation in a $400m five year loan for global coal giant Adaro Indonesia, as part of a syndicate of banks.
Adaro Indonesia, however, is committed to keeping within five to six degrees of global warming, north of the Paris Agreement’s target of below 1.5 degrees.
Market Forces UK campaigner Adam McGibbon said: “Standard Chartered is aware that Adaro’s business plans are consistent with 5-6 degrees of global warming. How can a bank that says it supports the Paris Agreement fund this company?
“Despite years of engaging with Standard Chartered to get them to take the climate crisis seriously, they are still happy to fund global coal giants Adaro Indonesia.”
McGibbon warned that if the bank’s policies do not improve, the campaign group will table a shareholder resolution at next year’s AGM to “seek investor support to force the bank’s leadership to properly address the climate crisis.”
Environment, social and governance (ESG) factors are increasingly considered by shareholders, with Barclays forced to up its climate policies after a shareholder resolution last year.
Meanwhile, HSBC has convinced investors to withdraw a climate change resolution for this year’s annual general meeting, by announcing end dates for its coal financing.
With banks on the radar for climate destructive investments, Standard Chartered has largely escaped scrutiny.
In 2018, chairman Jose Vinals said that the bank’s ‘Here For Good’ slogan meant ‘saying no to coal’, however, it failed to cut its coal investments.
The loan to Adaro is set to fund the coal giant’s operations, which produced 46.8m tonnes of coal in 2020 alone and 774m tonnes in coal reserves – the burning of which would release 1.5bn tonnes of CO2, nearly the equivalent of Russia’s annual emissions.
“’Here For Good’ means nothing if it means continuing to provide hundreds of millions to a company ripping the heart out of communities in my country, and making global climate change worse,” Market Forces Indonesia campaigner Binbin Mariana said.
“Standard Chartered can say it cares about climate change and supports the Paris Agreement, or it can fund a company whose business plan depends on the Paris Agreement failing – but it can’t do both.”