Rainforest Action Network, 350.org Japan and Greenpeace Japan have launched a joint statement.<\/p>\n
Since Paris Agreement, Japanese Megabanks Poured $186 Billion into Fossil Fuels<\/b><\/p>\n
Bank policies unfit to avert climate disaster, says new report<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As climate change impacts worsen, Japanese banks are facing increasing international scrutiny for their financing of coal power and other fossil fuels around the world. A recent report, <\/span>Banking on Climate Change 2019<\/span><\/i>, found Japan\u2019s three largest banks – Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Mizuho Financial Group, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC) – funneled $186 billion into the global fossil fuel sector in the three years since the Paris Agreement was adopted at the end of 2015. NGOs warn that these Japanese banks are exposed to significant reputational risk, stranded asset risk, and other climate-related financial risks that are not being properly disclosed and can ultimately harm investors. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Banking on Climate Change 2019<\/span><\/i> is the tenth annual fossil fuel report card and the first ever analysis of funding from the world\u2019s major private banks for the fossil fuel sector as a whole.[1] It found 33 global banks, including Japan\u2019s three largest banks, provided a total of $1.9 trillion in loans and underwriting to 1,800 companies across the coal, oil and gas sectors globally over the past three years. Alarmingly, the amount of financing rose in each of the past two years. Of this $1.9 trillion total, $600 billion went to 100 companies that are most aggressively expanding fossil fuels, including J-Power. <\/span><\/p>\n The report also assessed Japanese banks\u2019 recently adopted corporate financing policies and found none aligned with Paris Agreement goals. For restrictions on financing fossil fuel expansion, SMBC scored a D- for partial coal exclusion, while MUFG and Mizuho scored a F for having no clear exclusions. For restrictions on financing coal power specifically, the banks\u2019 scores showed slight improvement from last year, but it has glaring loopholes that allow the continued financing of coal. SMBC scored only a C- for partial coal power project exclusion, while MUFG and Mizuho scored a D+ for merely committing to undertake due diligence. \u201cThe Japanese banks\u2019 new financing policies are completely inadequate to deal with the climate emergency. This should be a major red flag for investors,\u201d said Hana Heineken of Rainforest Action Network. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n While Japanese banks\u2019 have continued to fund coal and other fossil fuel development both domestically and overseas, the trend towards fossil fuel divestment has gained more speed and significance globally. \u201cOver 100 globally significant financial institutions have divested from or restricted financing of thermal coal, including 40% of top 40 global banks and 20 globally significant insurers. At the same time, the criteria which the progressive institutions are setting for divestment decisions are becoming increasingly strict. Currently, Japanese banks are behind this trend,\u201d said Martin Norman, Finance Campaign Director of Greenpeace Nordic.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last year, all three Japanese banks endorsed the Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).<\/span> However, none of the banks have disclosed the extent of fossil fuel financing in their portfolios nor how they will shift their investments to align with the Paris Agreement [ 2]. \u201cAligning bank policies with the Paris Agreement means ceasing any new finance for coal or other fossil fuel development and funding a fair and just transition towards a renewable energy society in line with scientific knowledge\u201d said Shin Furuno of 350.org. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last month, the WMO found extreme weather in 2018 hit 62 million people worldwide and forced 2 million people to relocate, as man-made climate change worsened.[3] The IPCC Special Report on <\/span>Global Warming of 1.5 \u00b0C <\/span><\/i>clearly outlined the critical need for a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels <\/span>and estimated that the world’s clean energy investment needs are $2.4 trillion per year up to 2035. [4] Given the urgency of climate protection, major investors in the Japanese banks must demand an overhaul of the banks\u2019 policies such that they prohibit all financing for all fossil fuel expansion projects and for companies expanding fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure, and commit to a phase out of financing for fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure on an explicit timeline that is aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5\u00b0C. <\/span>[5]<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes to Editors:<\/span><\/p>\n [1] <\/span>Banking on Climate Change<\/span><\/i> was written by Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Sierra Club, and Honor the Earth, and endorsed by over 160 organizations around the world, which includes 350.org Japan and Greenpeace Japan. To download the full report: <\/span>ran.org\/bankingonclimatechange2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [2] 350.org Japan analysis of Japanese bank disclosures vs. TCFD recommendations (in Japanese): <\/span>https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1PBq4ePlMfDUdkH3WpamMu57t8FSE74Ix\/view?usp=sharing<\/span><\/a> \u3000<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [3] World Meteorological Organization (WMO), <\/span>State of the Global Climate 2018<\/span><\/i> report, <\/span>https:\/\/public.wmo.int\/en\/media\/press-release\/state-of-climate-2018-shows-accelerating-climate-change-impacts<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [4] IPCC, 2018, \u201cSummary for Policymakers,\u201d in \u201cGlobal Warming of 1.5\u00b0C: An IPCC Special Report on the Impacts of Global Warming of 1.5\u00b0C Above Pre-Industrial Levels and Related Global Greenhouse Gas Emission Pathways, in the Context of Strengthening the Global Response to the Threat of Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Efforts to Eradicate Poverty,\u201d edited by Val\u00e9rie Masson-Delmotte et al. World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.<\/span><\/p>\n\n