Tag: financing

JPMorgan plans to set climate targets for financing portfolio

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is planning to set emissions targets for its financing portfolio, joining other massive banks in bringing climate goals to its lending activity.

The biggest U.S. bank will establish goals to be achieved by 2030 for each each industry in its portfolio, starting with oil and gas, automotive manufacturing and electric power. It will begin announcing the targets next year.

JPMorgan is also working to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint for its own operations starting this year as part of a broader commitment to align its activity with the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Morgan Stanley had pledged to eliminate the net carbon emissions generated by its financing activities in three decades.


Fuel Fix: Get energy news sent directly to your inbox

The changes send a signal that JPMorgan is thinking more seriously about its role in fighting climate change. The bank has been under increasing pressure from environmental activists to divest from the fossil-fuel industry. In February, the firm said it would tighten its financing policy and pledged to stop advising or lending to companies that get the majority of revenue from the extraction of coal.

In May, a shareholder resolution requesting that the firm issue a report outlining how it intends to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions associated with its lending business received support from 49.6 percent of shareholders — just missing a majority threshold, according to the preliminary tally. The bank has also replaced Lee Raymond, the former Exxon Mobil Corp. boss, as lead independent director of its board after nonprofit groups and some large investors pushed to remove him due to his track record on climate change.

The Rainforest Action Network said the bank’s new policy is a “welcome step forward” but “falls short,” according to Patrick McCully, climate and energy director of the group. “If

…

HSBC targets net zero emissions by 2050, earmarks $1 trillion green financing

By Lawrence White, Sinead Cruise and Simon Jessop



logo: FILE PHOTO: HSBC logo is seen on a branch bank in the financial district in New York, U.S.

© Reuters/BRENDAN MCDERMID
FILE PHOTO: HSBC logo is seen on a branch bank in the financial district in New York, U.S.


LONDON (Reuters) – HSBC will target net zero carbon emissions across its entire customer base by 2050 at the latest, and provide between $750 billion and $1 trillion in financing to help clients make the transition, its Chief Executive Noel Quinn told Reuters.

In the strongest statement by Europe’s biggest bank on climate change to date, its CEO outlined HSBC’s ambitions to align its activities with the Paris Agreement.

“COVID has been a wake-up call to us all, including me personally, we have seen how fragile the global economy is to a major event, in this case a health event, and it brings home the reality of what a major climate event could do,” Quinn told Reuters in a video interview.

HSBC aims to achieve net zero in its own operations by 2030, he added.

While other UK banks such as NatWest have already set similar net-zero goals, HSBC’s aim to achieve it across its huge Asia-focused client base is one of the most significant pledges made by a global lender to date.

However, the bank will be closely watched for how quickly and fully it pursues its new goals, which are mainly stated as ‘aims’ rather than hard commitments.

It will also face scrutiny on whether it has allowed itself leeway to continue financing some fossil fuel-linked clients, especially in developing markets.

HSBC has come under increasing pressure from activists, shareholders and politicians who say it is contributing to climate change by financing fossil fuel and other environmentally harmful projects.

Quinn said the bank is focused on expanding its capital markets-focused carbon transition policies, to a broader one encompassing all

…

Eskom hopes to announce green financing for coal transition at COP26

By Tanisha Heiberg

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 8 (Reuters) – South African power utility Eskom is still seeking funding for its shift from coal to greener fuels, but hopes to announce a deal at next year’s COP26 climate conference after talks with lenders including the World Bank, its chief executive said on Thursday.

Eskom, which generates 90% of South Africa’s power, has a 488 billion rand ($29.3 billion) debt burden and has imposed intermittent blackouts, denting economic growth and hurting investment.

The utility is in talks over funding with local and international developmental finance institutions, including the World Bank, and has received letters of support in principle, Andre de Ruyter told Reuters on the sidelines of the Joburg Indaba mining conference.

“There are both many local and international development finance institutions that are prepared to offer entities such as Eskom with funding linked to accelerated decarbonisation,” said de Ruyter.

Eskom is still engaging on how those transactions would be structured, but hopes to make an announcement at the COP26 climate summit to be held in Glasgow in November 2021, he said.

Eskom is modelling options to repurpose its aging power stations into renewable or gas power plants and use vacant mining land for wind or solar farms, said De Ruyter.

Up to 12,000 megawatts (MW) of Eskom’s installed capacity will need to be decommissioned in the next decade, according to South Africa’s energy plan.

“We would be able to reduce the interest burden while also contributing to an improved emission profile and ultimately also creating jobs as we erect these renewable plants,” said De Ruyter.

“If we simply pull the plug on the old coal-fired power stations that have reached the end of their design life… then we will leave those communities in the lurch and that is not what we

…

UK Government Sees Future Energy Mix Involving Small Nuclear Reactors, But Financing Remains Obstacle

KEY POINTS

  • A  nine-member association of companies have pledged to build 16 small nuclear power stations by 2050
  • Each mini reactor would be in operation for up to 60 years and provide 440 megawatts of electricity per year
  • The program is expected to create 40,000 jobs.

The British government is considering investing 2 billion pounds sterling ($2.6 billion) to help build small nuclear reactors as part of London’s overall strategy of developing cleaner energy and achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The financing program – details of which have yet to be finalized, Bloomberg reported – would involve the government buying an equity stake in various new small nuclear stations across the country. Smaller reactors, as the government envisions, may be a more economical strategy to build up nuclear power in the country.

Indeed, a nine-member consortium of companies, including Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc and construction giant Laing O’Rourke Plc, have pledged to build 16 small nuclear power stations by 2050 on existing nuclear sites. This program is expected to create 40,000 jobs.

Each mini reactor would be in operation for up to 60 years and provide 440 megawatts of electricity per year — enough to power the city of Leeds (a city of 480,000 people), Financial Times reported.

The government’s funds “should deliver sufficient cash to get the consortium through building the factories and well on the way to construction of power stations prior to finding more money from other sources,” a source told FT.

“Nuclear power will play a key role in the U.K.’s future energy mix as we transition to a low-carbon economy, including through our investments in small and advanced modular reactors,” a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said.

The government’s initial investment would be part of the first tranche to construct five such small nuclear stations.

…

World’s largest banks in commodity trade financing creating digital finance registry in Singapore: report

Fox Business Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on FoxBusiness.com.

SINGAPORE – Some of the world’s biggest banks in commodity trade financing are creating a digital trade finance registry in Singapore to try and mitigate the risk of trade fraud and boost transparency after losing billions of dollars due to a spate of defaults.

Banks have reduced their commodities business this year to cut risk following collapses, including that of Singapore’s Hin Leong Trading (Pte) Ltd, which shocked lenders after instances of financial trouble were laid bare by the coronavirus crisis.

In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, DBS Group DBSM.SI and Standard Chartered STAN.L said they are leading a group of 12 other banks in Singapore to create and conduct a central database to access trade transactions financed across banks.

HSBC, STANDARD CHARTERED’S REPORTEDLY MOVED LARGE SUMS OF ILLICIT CASH FOR 2 DECADES WITH NO IDEA OF MONEY’S ORIGINS: REPORT

“A digital trade registry strengthens trade financing banks’ ability to avoid duplicate financing, and facilitates more sustained credit flow in trade financing,” said Ho Hern Shin, an assistant managing director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Reuters first reported in July that banks are teaming up to strengthen lending practices and improve transparency in the sector.

Entrance to Standard Chartered Bank in the City of London. Standard Chartered PLC is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom with operations in more than seventy countries. It is a universal bank and has ope

The registry’s proof of concept is supported by Enterprise Singapore (ESG), a government agency that promotes trade, and endorsed by the main representative body of banks.

“This mitigates against duplicate financing from different bank lenders for the same trade inventory, leading to greater trust and confidence among banks and traders alike,”

…