🚨BREAKING: @HSBC sends shockwaves to fossil fuel giants & governments by committing not to directly finance new oil & gas fields

HSBC's announcement sets a new minimum level of ambition for all banks committed to net-zero

👋👋@Barclays @BNPParibas

bit.ly/3FrG8Qa The @IEA made clear that there was no room for new oil & gas fields in a net-zero by 2050 world

The number of banks restricting direct financing to new oil & gas fields has doubled as a result - but HSBC is the first major fossil fuel financier to do so

shareaction.org/reports/in-deb…

📢 @ShareAction's new survey finds that Europe's top 25 banks are not doing enough to address the twin crises of climate change & biodiversity loss

The average score in the survey was 43.7% -and 19 banks didn't even score half of the available points

🧵
shareaction.org/reports/in-deb… We identified important improvements in banks’ climate strategies since our last survey, for eg:

All of Europe's top banks have now committed to net-zero & 80% have at least one sector target in place - compared to zero in Dec 2019

They've also tightened their coal policies

🚨 BREAKING - @LloydsBank becomes the first UK bank to commit to not directly finance the development of new oil & gas fields

By doing so the bank has set an important precedent for the UK banking industry (hi @Barclays @HSBC 👋)

A (short) THREAD 🧵

bit.ly/3ES5d8d Last May the @IEA warned that there's no room for new oil & gas fields beyond 2021 for a *50%* chance of reaching net-zero by 2050

Yet our research had found that European banks continue to provide billions to top oil & gas expanders

shareaction.org/reports/oil-ga…

I will be live tweeting from the @HSBC AGM, where HSBC's management-backed climate resolution will be voted on

Expect lots of questions on the #EACOP pipeline, biodiversity, fossil fuels & other ESG issues from @ShareAction & many others

Let's go 👇

#HSBCAGM #AGMactivism HSBC's Chair of the Board Mark Tucker opens the AGM by reflecting on the past year & the future ahead - a world of uncertainty

He reminds everyone of the reason why HSBC was founded: to connect East & West

He goes through HSBC's future priorities, many of which are ESG-oriented

43 banks from 23 countries on all continents have joined Mark Carney's Net Zero Banking Alliance, under the UNFCCC's "Race to Net Zero" campaign

A thread on the good, the bad, and the ugly of the alliance & the Net-Zero guidelines it published today 👇

unepfi.org/net-zero-banki… Let's start with what's nowhere to be found within the Guidelines - despite being *pretty crucial* to any bank's climate strategy:

* Coal and fossil fuel phase out plans
* Biodiversity loss and deforestation
* Just Transition (although the SDGs are briefly mentioned)

Mark Carney is expected to launch a "Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net-Zero" on Earth Day

Notwithstanding the fact that we already have *enough* net-zero alliances thank you very much, this alliance has the potential to be a lot of greenwash

Thread 👇
bloom.bg/3uCzC1M The alliance is expected to host 30 banks pledging to reach net-zero by 2050 & might include @Barclays @Citi & @HSBC

But but but

1/ These 3 banks have *already* made net-zero pledges

2/ Net-zero has already become the baseline in the banking industry

Hardly groundbreaking

We weren't allowed to tweet from the #BPAGM so I've summarised my highlights below 👇 The AGM started off with protesters disrupting the meeting by calling BP a climate criminal & gluing themselves to the board - full video here 👇in response, BP CEO said everybody likes a good Shakespeare