Exclusive: Many finance leaders in the City have zero faith in Net Zero targets September 30, 2021 With COP26 just around the corner, there’s a pessimistic outlook among many UK financial services business leaders about hitting targets, with more than one in four believing the sector won’t hit Net Zero by 2050. Over a third of this group say there is simply insufficient global support to make the UK financial service sector [...]
COP26: Standardising climate reporting could slash pension scheme cash burden September 30, 2021 Standardising climate-related reporting could “considerably” slash the cash burden for pension schemes, the Work and Pensions Committee has said. Calling on the UK to up its leadership on fossil fuel-investing pension funds ahead of COP26, the Committee has urged the Government to encourage other countries to make their local pension schemes disclose their climate-related financial [...]
Exclusive: 300 UK financiers provide £40bn in deforestation funds, claims WWF September 29, 2021 Around 300 City and UK-based financiers are directly providing £40bn in funding to companies that threaten Brazilian and Indonesian rainforests, according to nature charity WWF. The funding is provided through both investments and loans, the organisation told City A.M. in an email. Most of the companies are involved in the production of beef, palm oil, [...]
Airbnb appeals to Glaswegians to host COP26 attendees September 29, 2021 Glaswegians have been offered a £100 incentive by Airbnb to open up their homes for the COP26. The climate change event will draw in 30,000 attendees from all over the world – but rental platform Airbnb says the city’s hotels only cater for half those people. It cited the Glasgow Convention Bureau as saying hotel [...]
UK leads the way in climate transparency ahead of COP26, says new report September 28, 2021 The UK is leading the way in climate transparency, according to new research, as over 70 per cent of energy and chemicals companies say they have publicly stated their climate impact targets. The research, by ICIS, found that the UK had the highest levels of transparency in comparison with the rest of Europe – with [...]
BHP braces for backlash by investors over climate plan September 28, 2021 Shareholders in mining giant BHP have been advised to vote against the company’s carbon emission plans, ahead of its annual general meeting in London next month, according to reports. In a report shared with investors Glass Lewis, the influential proxy adviser, questioned the scientific basis of BHP’s Climate Transition Action Plan and said there was [...]
Cop26 sponsor NatWest named and shamed for links to Arctic oil and gas drillers September 27, 2021 NatWest is under scrutiny from campaigners due to it financing fossil fuel developers while sponsoring the Cop26 climate summit NatWest is the banking sponsor of the Glasgow conference — where countries will pledge to reduce carbon emissions as part of a wideranging global effort — but was still providing underwriting and loans to energy companies [...]
Ex-Tesco boss Dave Lewis behind £16bn link to import clean energy from Morocco September 26, 2021 A £16bn project to build the world’s longest power link will supply seven million UK homes with ‘near constant, low-cost clean energy’ according to its new chair, former Tesco boss Sir Dave Lewis. The renewable energy plan by Xlinks will take power from 10.6 gigawatts of large-scale solar and wind farms in Morocco via a [...]
17 arrested as Port of Dover blocked by climate protestors September 24, 2021 Police have arrested 17 climate protestors who blocked the Port of Dover, Europe’s busiest ferry port. Around 40 protestors have blocked the A20 at two sites: the Eastern Docks roundabout and near the junction with Union Street for the Western Docks. The offshoot of Extinction Rebellion caused chaos on the M25 motorway five times in [...]
Drill, baby, drill: Arctic set for £230bn oil and gas bonanza with JPMorgan, Barclays and Citi piling in September 23, 2021 Oil and gas companies are set to ramp up production in the Arctic by 20 per cent in the next five years, according to a new report shared with City A.M. this morning. The main Arctic expansionists – Gazprom, Total and ConocoPhillips – are backed by hundreds of billions of pounds from dozens of City [...]