{"id":28243,"date":"2020-01-21T14:36:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T13:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=28243"},"modified":"2020-03-30T22:20:36","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T20:20:36","slug":"greenpeace-report-davos-financial-players-pump-us1-4-trillion-into-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/press-release\/28243\/greenpeace-report-davos-financial-players-pump-us1-4-trillion-into-fossil-fuels\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace report: Davos financial players pump US$1.4 trillion into fossil fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Davos, Switzerland – Banks and pension funds with CEOs attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos are collectively financially exposed to fossil fuel companies to the tune of US$1.4 trillion. Also represented at the gathering of the world\u2019s most powerful are five of the worst insurance companies for coal coverage. These are the findings of It\u2019s the finance sector, stupid<\/a>, a new Greenpeace International report. <\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace International analysed\nwhich banks, pension funds and insurers go to Davos but fail to live up to the\nForum\u2019s goal, from an environmental and economic perspective, of \u201cimproving the state of the world<\/a>.\u201d The report and accompanying website, www.worldeconomicfailure.com<\/a>, also illustrate how lobbyists and PR firms are engaged by\nthese financial actors and fossil fuel companies to work against the Paris\nAgreement.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe banks, insurers and pension\nfunds here at Davos are culpable for the climate emergency. Despite\nenvironmental and economic warnings, they\u2019re fuelling another global financial\ncrisis by propping up the fossil fuel industry. These money men at Davos are\nnothing short of hypocrites as they say they want to save the planet but are\nactually killing it for short term profit,\u201d said Greenpeace International\nExecutive Director, Jennifer Morgan.<\/p>\n\n

24 banks that go to Davos have\nfinanced the fossil fuel industry to the amount of US$1.4 trillion since the\nParis Agreement through to 2018.(1) US$1.4 trillion is the same as what the\nworld\u2019s 3.8 billion poorest people<\/a> had collectively in 2018.<\/p>\n\n

Of these 24, it is just 10 banks\nthat account for US$1 trillion in fossil fuel finance: JP Morgan Chase, Citi,\nBank of America, RBC Royal Bank, Barclays, MUFG, TD Bank, Scotiabank, Mizuho\nand Morgan Stanley. US$1 trillion is equivalent to the financial risk reported\nby 215 of the world\u2019s biggest global companies<\/a> due to climate impacts that are likely to hit within the\nnext five years. US$1 trillion could also buy 640GW of solar power<\/a>,\nwhich is more than the current global capacity.<\/p>\n\n

Three pension funds that are due\nthis year at Davos have at least US$26 billion in fossil fuel holdings in\nShell, Chevron and Exxon, among others, and in fossil fuel bankers JP Morgan\nChase, Bank of America and Royal Bank of Canada.(2) US$26 billion equates to\nthe world\u2019s biggest IPO to date, that of Saudi Aramco<\/a>. These\nthree pension funds are Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Canada Pension Plan\nInvestment Board and PensionDanmark. <\/p>\n\n

If a sector is not insurable, it is\nnot bankable. Five of the world\u2019s worst insurance providers when it comes to\ncovering coal attended the 2019 Annual Meeting in Davos and are likely to be\nthere this year. They are AIG, Prudential, Sompo, Tokio Marine and Lloyd\u2019s.(3)\nFour of the five have not adopted any public policies to reduce their support\nfor coal projects.(4) And the same number has not adopted any public policies\nto divest from coal and other fossil fuels.(5) AIG, sponsor of New Zealand\u2019s\nnational rugby union team, is deemed as the worst insurer as it also has not\nexcluded support for the giant Adani coal mine project in Australia.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe time for talking shops and PR\nspin is over. The regulators must do their jobs before it is too late and\nfinancial actors must stop operating as if it\u2019s business as usual. We are in a\nclimate emergency and there will be no money on a dead planet,\u201d said Morgan.<\/p>\n\n

ENDS<\/p>\n\n

Notes to Editors<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n

See the report here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

1. Since\nthe Paris Agreement was signed, 33 major global banks have collectively poured\nUS$1.9 trillion into fossil fuels, according to BankTrack\u2019s report, Banking on Climate Change \u2013 Fossil Fuel Finance Report\nCard 2019<\/a>. 24 of these banks attended the World Economic Forum\u2019s\n2019 Annual Meeting in Davos, based on Quartz data<\/a>, and are likely to attend this\nyear\u2019s event in Davos. These 24 banks have funded fossil fuels to the tune of\nUS$1.4 trillion since the adoption of the Paris climate accord in 2015 and up\nto the end of 2018, according to BankTrack. The 24 banks are: JP Morgan Chase, Citi, Bank of\nAmerica, RBC Royal Bank, Barclays, MUFG Bank, TD Bank, Scotiabank, Mizuho,\nMorgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Credit Suisse, Bank of Montreal, Deutsche\nBank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce(CIBC), Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale, UBS, ING, BPCE\/Natixis, Standard Chartered, Santander, BBVA and Royal Bank of Scotland(RBS).<\/p>\n\n

2. The\nUS$26bn figure for the 3 pension funds is based on Greenpeace International\ncalculations via desk research into the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Canada\nPension Plan Investment Board and PensionDanmark. These pension funds attended\nthe World Economic Forum\u2019s 2019 Annual Meeting in Davos, based on Quartz data<\/a>, and are likely to attend this\nyear\u2019s event in Davos.<\/p>\n\n

3. The UnfriendCoal scorecard<\/a> 2019 focused on 30 leading insurers, assessing and scoring their policies on coal and tar sands insurance, divestment and other aspects of climate leadership on the basis of a survey with more than 80 questions. Of the 30 companies, 24 responded to the survey or provided other information. Those that did not respond were scored on the basis of publicly available information. 5 of these insurers attended the World Economic Forum\u2019s 2019 Annual Meeting in Davos, based on Quartz data<\/a>, and are likely to attend this year\u2019s event in Davos. <\/p>\n\n

4. AIG, Sompo, Tokio Marine and Llyod\u2019s have not adopted any public policies to reduce their support for coal projects.<\/p>\n\n

5. AIG, Prudential in the US, Sompo and Tokio Marine have not adopted any public policies to divest from coal and other fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n

Prediction of 2020 Davos attendees\nis based on the Quartz magazine\u2019s lists of Davos attendees between\n2016-2019. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the finance sector, stupid\u201d\nreport by Greenpeace International is available for download at www.worldeconomicfailure.com<\/a>, which features interactive alternative business cards for\nfinancial players who are likely to attend Davos 2020. Access to the website is\npassword protected until 0001 CET 21 January 2020. Password is provided upon\nrequest.<\/p>\n\n

Contacts:<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace International Executive Director, Jennifer Morgan will be attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. 

For interviews, please contact Dannielle Taaffe dtaaffe@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org<\/a>

Follow @greenpeacepress on twitter for our latest international press releases<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe banks, insurers and pension funds here at Davos are culpable for the climate emergency.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":28246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2018\/02\/07ac813b-gp0stri3u_medium_res.jpg","p4_og_image_id":"14519","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[65,87,88],"p4-page-type":[98],"class_list":["post-28243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-energy-revolution","tag-oil","tag-coal","p4-page-type-press-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28243"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29708,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28243\/revisions\/29708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28243"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=28243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}