Ada Recinos, Temporary Deputy Press Secretary, Federal Communications, ada.recinos@sierraclub.org
NEW YORK – This week, Citigroup has joined JPMorgan Chase in agreeing to disclose its relative levels of financing for low-carbon energy versus fossil fuels — also known as an energy supply financing ratio — in response to shareholder resolutions filed by the New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and three New York City pension systems. The Comptroller has emphasized the need for banks to increase financing for low-carbon energy and decrease financing for fossil fuel expansion in order to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
With this announcement, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup will align more closely with some major European banks, such as BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, which are now required by the European Banking Authority to disclose “green asset ratios” which detail financing for environmental objectives. The NYC Comptroller has withdrawn the resolutions at Citi and JPMorgan Chase following these commitments. Meanwhile, the resolutions are still likely to go to a vote at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, all of which have not yet made an agreement with the NYC Comptroller to begin disclosing their energy-supply financing ratio.
In response to the announcement, Ben Cushing, campaign director of the Sierra Club’s Fossil-Free Finance campaign, issued the following statement:
“We welcome this announcement from JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, which are the world’s two largest financiers of fossil fuels. So far, these banks have made little progress on their own net-zero commitments, continuing to finance the polluting energy companies refusing to transition, and failing to sufficiently finance the clean energy technologies and climate solutions we need in order to meet our climate goals.
We applaud Comptroller Lander and New York City’s pension funds for their leadership to drive climate progress in the banking sector. Now, all eyes are on the remaining Wall Street banks to also commit to disclosing this important baseline information, and then take the necessary steps to rapidly scale up clean energy financing and reduce fossil fuel financing to align with their climate goals.”
BACKGROUND
Earlier this year, 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 proposals were filed at JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and the 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 Bloomberg New Energy Finance, 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.
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.