Net-zero commitments can’t be taken at face value

October 3, 2024 4:17 PM

Banks still provide far too little green financing compared to fossil fuel financing. Banks have made headlines in recent years for committing to reach “net-zero emissions” by 2050 and pledging to mobilize trillions of dollars in the fight against climate change. But are banks on track to fulfill their promises? World Resources Institute's Financial Institutions Net Zero Tracker focuses on Transparency & Ambition; Implementation; Credibility; and Nature & Equity. Data from publicly available reports as of November 2023 (About & Technical Note).
posted by spamandkimchi (6 comments total)

This is a great post. For more on this topic, I recommend the Banking on Climate Chaos report (lots of graphs, very easy to parse if you are overwhelmed). Also, Bank.Green is a nonprofit that is working on this (disclaimer: I write for them). They released a report on what UK banks are doing a few months ago and will release a report on US banks in the next couple of days. You can also search your own bank to learn how they rate.
posted by rednikki at 6:05 PM on October 3, 2024 [1 favorite]

CCS, Carbon Waste Injection, has fucked this all to hell.

The main point of the generous 45Q is to destabilize financing for offshore wind, since it s the most capital intensive of the net zero technologies.

As predicted by coal economists in. 2015, funding clean coal destabilizes wind financing, although even the coal finance Dudes agree that wind will win in the longer term.

Look up Iverson 2015, clean coal. That paper is a blueprint for the inflation reduction act.

Also the oil industry hates offshore wind because it exposes how much trash and leaking wells they have left in the Gulf of Mexico, and how little they pay for public leases in the US Ocean. If a competing industry emerges....eventually they will have to receive fair treatment.

And fair treatment for the oil industry means removing their billions in formal and informal subsidies, it means we have to stop allowing them to defy all laws, remain non compliant with safety regs, etc etc

Thanks, Joe Manchin, you piece of something.
posted by eustatic at 9:29 PM on October 3, 2024

Oh, and get ready for "Blue Oil"

CCS doesn't work, so the next step, already proposed by Cassidy, is to extend 45Q financing for "Blue Oil", "Enhanced Oil Recovery."

The Oil industry will expect the media to believe, and pay them lots to believe that, despite millions of the old wells leaking methane, none of the CO2 they inject leaks back to the surface.
posted by eustatic at 9:35 PM on October 3, 2024

Hey! This is the first time I've seen the place I work hit the Blue. Lots of very good, very smart people put a lot of time into this project.
posted by idiotking at 8:53 AM on October 4, 2024 [3 favorites]

The scorpion stings the frog. Every time. If frogs want to survive and have a liveable planet, forget about waiting for lions to lay down with lambs. Frogs need to treat scorpions like the killlers they are.

This message paid for by the committee to stop pretending that killing people with pollution for money isn't murder.
posted by No Climate - No Food, No Food - No Future. at 11:45 AM on October 4, 2024

Carbon Capture & Storage in the Honest Government Ad series by The Juice Media remains correct.
posted by jeffburdges at 8:24 AM on October 6, 2024