Barclays has announced that it will align its entire financing portfolio – including its own operations and the financing it does for clients – to the goals of the Paris Agreement.
“Our new ambition to be net zero, and our commitment to aligning our financing portfolio across all sectors to the goals of the Paris Agreement, will mean we can play much more of a leading role in meeting the climate challenge and in financing energy transition,” said Barclays’ chairman Nigel Higgins.
Barclays is also developing new, open-source tools to map the greenhouse gas emissions of its portfolios, increasing its existing targets for green financing and partnering with the Blue Marine Foundation to help protect the ocean – “the largest carbon sink on Earth”.
The announcement has been welcomed by shareholder groups.
“Barclays’ statement that it will align its financing with the net zero by 2050 Paris goal is critically important to helping ensure the world meets its climate goal,” said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow.
“For the benefit of all, including shareholders, economic growth must decouple itself from carbon emissions – and that work must begin now. We are pleased to see Barclays show leadership at this particularly critical time of economic uncertainty. We look forward to further understanding how the bank intends to meet its new goal and to seeing progress in the near term, while looking ahead to 2050.”
