Ginny Cleaveland, Deputy Press Secretary, Federal Communications, Sierra Club, ginny.cleaveland@sierraclub.org, +1 415 508 8498 (Pacific Time)
NEW YORK — Today, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and three New York City pension systems announced the filing of shareholder proposals at several big US and Canadian banks requiring the banks to report on their ratios of clean energy versus fossil fuel financing.
The New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), and Board of Education Retirement System (BERS) filed proposals at JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, while NYCERS and BERS filed proposals at Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Royal Bank of Canada.
The resolutions call on each of the banks to disclose energy-supply financing ratios and to report regularly and transparently on whether or not they are hitting those targets. Energy-supply finance ratios are an essential metric for fully measuring a bank’s equity and debt financing of both companies and projects.
According to research by BloombergNEF, the ratio of financing for clean energy supply, relative to fossil fuels, needs to reach a 4-to-1 ratio by 2030. At the end of 2022, this energy-supply banking ratio was 0.73-to-1, which was slightly worse than the 0.75-to-1 ratio reported in 2021. Major US and Canadian banks have been shown to be among the world’s worst performers on this critical metric.
In response to the announcement, Ben Cushing, campaign director of the Sierra Club’s Fossil-Free Finance campaign, issued the following statement:
“Major banks are not making adequate progress toward their climate goals. Years after making their net-zero commitments, banks are still providing too much financing to fossil fuel companies that are failing to transition, and too little financing to clean energy technologies and other climate solutions. Lagging progress by banks undermines climate action and puts investors’ savings at risk. We applaud Comptroller Lander and New York City’s pension funds for their continued engagement to push big banks to strengthen their climate commitments and demonstrate progress. We encourage other shareholders, including pension funds across the country, to follow NYC’s lead by voting to support these resolutions at the banks’ upcoming annual meetings.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.