The conversation swirling around the Annual Gathering this year was significantly focused on the newly announced mission for Confluence and what it meant to take our focus beyond just impact investing to real changes about how we implement all capital management decisions.
The potential for what this change in mission could really mean was clearly taking shape in the session and side conversations on the banking sector and its role in meeting (or exceeding) the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.
At present, the banking sector is falling far behind, and panelists shared the research showing that investments in the clean economy are currently at less than half of where they need to be. And we are all now painfully aware that the banking sector has plowed $US 1.9 trillion into the development of fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement.
Participants in the Decarbonizing Bank Lending Session talked about the fact that most of the capital being deployed into the real economy comes from the lending and investments of the banking sector. Both in size and the opportunity for deployment, this $180 Trillion asset bucket is essential to meeting the world’s sustainable finance goals. Without steering these bank assets, we will not be able to make communities more resilient; we will not be able to finance the clean energy, zero emissions transportation, and regenerative agriculture that we need; and we will not be able to end the fossil fuel burning and deforestation that is rapidly destroying the human place on our planet.
So, the discussions in the hallways, over beverages, and in the banking session was; “what do we do about this?” Many themes emerged, but we highlight one below, accompanied by a resource guide that can be found linked at bottom.
Given our own relationships with various banks, we should leverage those relationships either by pushing our relationships to take specific and measurable steps for climate-aligned financing, such as joining the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials, by making grants to fund social movements, or by moving our banking to financial partners that are aligned (such as B-Corp Certified banks and banks that are members of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values).
As Confluence launches our new mission to ‘Transform the practice of investing by aligning capital with sustainability, equity, and justice,’ what better place to start than with the biggest pot of money in the world? The banks.
Resources
Sustainable banks:
'Dirty' banks:
Just for fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8DgI-wln4Y#action=share
- Ivan Frishberg, Director of Impact Policy, Amalgamated Foundation and Confluence Board Member
