Media

Great news today as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announces the Future Made in Australia Act, designed to deliver a uniquely Australian Response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which is turbocharging renewables, cleantech and reindustrialisation in the US as it mobilises massive private capital investment. To date, the Big 4 have established $385bn (and growing) worth of sustainable finance targets (SFT) that are, in part, aimed at contributing to climate change mitigation. It will be up to the banks to align their capital allocation and reporting to the new taxonomy from FY2025 and, crucially, to prioritise financing that achieves the objectives of the new Act. Read more

The news: Australia’s big four banks have allotted a minor share of their collective 2030 sustainable finance target (SFT) to financing renewable energy and hard to abate industries, according to new analysis by Climate Energy Finance (CEF). The numbers: The independent think tank’s report revealed that 7% of the big four banks’ collective $385 billion sustainable finance target was directed to financing renewable energy and hard to abate industries. Read more

Author of the analysis, CEF finance analyst Nishtha Aggarwal, said: “Our analysis shows the banks need to actively reorient their lending if they are to align their climate rhetoric with their capital flows. “They must put ‘their’ money where their mouth is. Trumpeting climate action based on the low hanging fruit of financing minimally green-rated buildings is not enough, and leaves them open to accusation of greenwashing. “The over-representation of fossil fuel interests on Australian banks’ boards is highly likely to undermine the credible pivot of climate finance. The banks should urgently remove the influence of these interests and recruit zero emissions expertise to drive credible net zero capital allocations to renewables and economy-wide decarbonisation. Read more

New analysis released today by independent think tank Climate Energy Finance reveals only 7%* of the Big 4 banks’ collective $385bn sustainable finance target (SFT) by 2030 is directed to financing renewable energy and hard to abate industries, with the vast majority of their climate-related capital – between 44% and 72% – channelled into the low hanging fruit of business-as-usual ‘green buildings’ that meet minimum energy efficiency regulations. This pivotal finding demonstrates that there is an enormous gap in banks’ financing of emissions reduction in key sectors including energy, transport and hard to abate industries. It puts Australia behind in the race to capture the massive investment, trade and employment opportunities of the net zero transformation. Read more

Climate Energy Finance (CEF) Green (Buildings) Wash report has found three of Australia’s big four banks have channeled the bulk of their sustainable finance target (SFT) funds to date, to green buildings, which CEF said meet minimum energy efficiency regulations and leave the banks open to accusations of green washing. From the combined banks’ SFT allocations to date of $184 billion (USD 119 billion), just $12.4 billion, or 7%, has been assigned to the renewable energy or hard-to-abate sectors. Read more