Climate change

Strong climate policy and continued development of stress-testing tools by central banks are essential to transitioning to carbon neutrality.

HSBC Holdings has suspended executive Stuart Kirk days after he criticized the finance industry for worrying too much about climate change, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The card company and financial institutions are collaborating with cross-border settlement platform Carbonplace to improve processing and risk management for environmentally-focused transactions.

The rule, which runs well over 500 pages, is expected to meet resistance from bankers worried about the regulatory burden of calculating the carbon emissions from their borrowers.

Environmental impact calculators, fee reductions and carbon offsets are becoming part of the playbook for BNY Mellon, Visa, Mastercard, Klarna and others.

Bank of America said it will make all of its plastic credit and debit cards from recycled material beginning next year. 

Bankers trying to get their net-zero CO2 targets certified now face hard deadlines to reduce capital flows to fossil fuels.

JPMorgan Chase said it financed and facilitated $285 billion last year toward its $2.5 trillion, 10-year commitment to initiatives that combat climate change and advance sustainable development. 

Bank of America saw its busiest year on record for sustainable finance deals as demand for environmental, social and governance investments accelerates. 

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce plans to cut the emissions intensity of its lending to the oil and gas sector by 2030, part of a plan to reach net-zero emissions from its operations and financing activities by 2050.

Zions Bancorp. and Webster Financial are among the inaugural members of the Risk Management Association’s climate-risk consortium for regional institutions. Like its large-bank counterpart, the group will work with banks to help guide the economy's transition to a low-carbon future.

American fossil-fuel suppliers are moving to tie their bank credit lines to sustainability goals, including slashing their carbon footprint. 

Barclays plans to step up its financing of renewable energy as Russia’s war on Ukraine adds to the urgency of moving away from fossil fuels.

European bank regulators are set to start work later this year on adding climate-change risks to the framework for setting capital requirements, in a shift that would penalize lenders for failing to prepare for losses from extreme weather and the shift to clean energy.

A new Securities and Exchange Commission proposal would require public companies to report climate-related risks across their value chain. That could be especially difficult if it means banks have to account for their borrowers' emissions.

Texas is seeking information from more than a dozen major finance firms on whether their operations discriminate against the fossil-fuel industry. 

HSBC Holdings promised to “phase down” its financing of the fossil fuel industry, sending a warning to oil and gas clients as the bank works toward its target of net-zero emissions.

Demand for green bonds and other financing tied to climate and environmental projects is growing and should expand further, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said.

Toronto-Dominion Bank set targets for reducing the emissions intensity of lending to certain energy industries, charting a clearer path for a plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 while still boosting its loan book in those sectors.

The Biden administration's decision to bar oil and gas imports from Russia could increase domestic production and energy lending yet impede overall growth and demand for credit.