A lifetime ago, back in February, we were kicking off the ‘Decisive Decade’ with Confluence’s ten-year anniversary gathering in Puerto Rico. From many perspectives, it’s very clear why this is a decisive decade, but to drive the point home, former Governor of the Bank of England keynoted the Confluence Climate Solutions Summit. He launched his climate advocacy work with a speech bemoaning the ‘lost decade.’ This refers to the decade just passed, during which the admonitions of scientists and activists went largely unheeded and emissions kept rising.
Mr. Carney joined us at a critical moment and in a critical role, as the person who is now shepherding the development of the agenda for COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021. This is the agenda that will hopefully recover some of that lost time and ensure that the climate is, in his words, “part of every financial decision.”
Making climate part of every financial decisions seems completely in line with the new Confluence Philanthropy mission ‘to transform the practice of investing by aligning capital with our community’s values of sustainability, equity, and justice.’
It was refreshing and affirming to see that our ambitious agenda was in sync with the ambition being discussed for the banking sector at the next big climate conference.
What he outlined included:
- Increasing the rigor with which all companies and financial institutions report climate risk.
- Having countries commit to mandatory climate-risk reporting.
- Conducting systemic stress tests of the financial system and requiring banks to measure long-term risk, not just transactional risk.
- Having clear metrics for all companies and financial institutions to measure progress on targets, specifically through measuring financed emissions in the banking sector.
- Requiring the banking sector to have clear and measurable strategies for climate alignment, including what industries they finance, the transition plans of the companies they finance, and the governance systems to get there.
This is just some of what Mr. Carney discussed. It all sounds so reasonable on paper and in the conversation we had with him, even as it represents a pretty conservative vision of how to align the banking sector and bring down emissions. It is the macro prudential response to a burning house. But even with this, the powerful forces of the US finance sector largely lined up with their history, instinct and short-term profit objectives will quietly work to delay and water down even such common-sense actions. Simply, the agenda Mr. Carney outlined will not happen without applying pressure to the banking sector.
The COVID delay of COP26 gives us an opportunity to directly engage banks and push them to start giving up their addiction to fossil-fuel clients and start adopting the practices and programs Mr. Carney is suggesting.
We have just topped the highest-ever recorded levels of Co2 in the atmosphere, and yet big banks continue to pour billions into developing new fossil-fuel resources and building new infrastructure for the extraction and burning of fossil fuel. Their words and sustainability reports largely stand separate from their portfolios. And that is why Mr. Carney ended by lifting up the two new initiatives launched at the Climate Solutions Summit: the BankFWD initiative of the Rockefeller family to push banks on real plans for climate alignment, and the Confluence Decarbonizing Banking project. These are two investor- and advisor-led efforts to leverage our relationships with the banking sector and help keep another decade, the decisive decade, from going to waste.
Get involved by filling out the Confluence banking survey and by signing up at www.Bank-FWD.org
- Ivan Frishberg, Director of Impact Policy, Amalgamated Foundation and Confluence Board Member
