Environmental finance organisation Market Forces has released new research showing that during 2021, a handful of Standard Chartered-funded expansionary fossil fuel projects will emit 2.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide over their lifetimes - five times the annual emissions of the entire United Kingdom.

Market Forces and the Friends Provident Foundation have filed a shareholder resolution calling for Standard Chartered to align its financing with the goal of net-zero by 2050. Standard Chartered claims to support that goal, despite continuing to finance companies and projects that expand the scale of the fossil fuel industry.

Standard Chartered is the only UK bank to face an independent climate shareholder resolution at its AGM this year. The resolution proponents also point out that although the bank has a net-zero by 2050 target, its actions do not match its rhetoric, given the bank has, for one example, provided $39.6bn in finance to fossil fuels between the signing of the Paris Agreement and the end of 2021.

Adam McGibbon, UK campaign lead at Market Forces, said: "Standard Chartered says it’s “Here For Good”, but our findings show it’s Here For Fossil Fuels. The bank’s current policies allow it to keep financing the expansion of the fossil fuel industry when scientists say there can be no more expansion, and the small number of projects we’ve analysed here dwarf the annual emissions of every single person in the UK."

Share Story: