Bank lending is the largest source of finance in the world. With the unique ability of banks to create money in the form of credit, banks exert unparalleled influence over the rise and fall of markets, as well as their sustainability and fairness.This structural feature of the banking system, which rewards lending decisions based solely on short-term profit and the avoidance of financial risk, has created excessive credit allocation in fossil fuels across our entire economic system.
What the project will try to achieve
Climate Safe Lending’s goal is to align bank lending with the Paris Climate Accord by making lending carbon neutral in North America and Europe by 2025. Ultimately, our vision is a diverse, distributed, and decentralized global banking system able to close the global climate finance gap of $25-30 trillion and keep us below a temperature change of 1.5°C. Our goal and its outcomes are intentionally audacious and ambitious. We believe they can be achieved by working across the bank lending sector with our growing network of powerful people and institutions.
Who might be interested in this project?
Banks, bank influencers, pension funds, asset managers, anchor institutions, insurance companies, consumers, civil society and indeed anyone concerned about climate change. Specifically in the policy sphere: policy-makers and politicians, political advisors, officials in government departments and international governance bodies, as well as academics and think tanks.