Is your bank financing the climate crisis? And what can you do about it?

Dazzling green rainforests and glimmering solar panels. Crystal blue oceans and wind farms silhouetted against sunsets. These images could be splashed across the sustainability section on the website of any high-street bank. Less readily showcased, however, is the vast amount of cash a bank might be pouring into new oil and gas projects across the world. Several UK banks are supporting the fossil fuel industry to the tune of billions. And their customers, whether they realise it or not, are helping them do it.

TBIJ has reported for several years now on the greenwashing tactics employed by big banks. We uncovered HSBC’s secretive multimillion-dollar loan to an energy company bulldozing a village in western Germany to expand a huge coal mine. We showed how Barclays and Santander exploited loopholes in their own policies by raising money for major polluters. And this week we revealed how NatWest helped BP raise $500m last year in an apparent breach of its climate commitments.

The banks don’t usually comment on specific deals or clients in the fossil fuel industry, and have previously told us they are committed to engaging with fossil fuel companies in order to help them become more sustainable.

But these activities are increasingly of interest to banks’ customers. Sam Richardson, deputy editor of Which? Money, told TBIJ: “We know many consumers want to make more sustainable choices in their lives – and the places they keep their money are no different.”

So how can you find out if your bank is fuelling climate change? And is there anything you can do about it?

Zak Gottlieb is co-director of bank.green, an interactive website set up in late 2020. Its mission is to foster more transparency and accountability in the banking sector. “We saw there was a huge knowledge gap among consumers about what banks do with money,” Gottlieb told TBIJ. Bank.green developed an online tool that allows people to enter their country and bank name and get an immediate rating for its track record on sustainability. This comes with a breakdown on how much is being invested in clean and dirty energy sources.

Experts at Which? also regularly assess the green credentials of all big banks. Richardson said “several major players in the market are responsible for lending money to fossil fuel companies for specific projects while also making flimsy commitments on their use of agricultural commodities such as beef, soy, timber and palm oil”.

If you discover that your bank is funding fossil fuels then you might want to take action. Bank.green suggests a number of ways to do this – and offers people support in doing so. It recommends calling a bank directly (and gives possible talking points to use) and also provides draft letters or emails to send. Albert Carter, bank.green’s co-director told TBIJ the organisation is currently working on a new AI tool to make this process easier and more tailored to each bank.

Another option is of course switching banks. Make My Money Matter (MMMM), which campaigns to transform the financial system, has developed a page for people weighing this up. “When you switch, you need to know which bank you’re going to, and you do it through them,” said Izzy Howden, senior campaigner at MMMM. “We’ve tried to do something interactive and accessible which you can do at the click of a button.” A customer dissatisfied with their current bank can choose from a list of more ethical banks, and is then taken directly to the new bank’s switching page.

In May this year, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced a new rule to tackle banks’ greenwashing. It stated that all sustainability‐related claims about products and services must be fair, clear and not misleading and that breaching this could incur a fine. Make My Money Matter suggests customers unhappy with their bank could write to the FCA directly – and that doing so could prompt it “to do more in its role as regulator to hold banks to account for greenwashing”.

As bank.green’s Gottlieb said: “Almost everyone has a bank account – and so almost everyone can be part of the solution.”