The Impact of Holding Banks Accountable for Harmful Investments

Lucie Pinson is a climate activist focused on the banks that fund fossil fuel projects. But she doesn’t march, chant, picket corporate headquarters, or glue herself to the road. Instead, she and her team at the Paris-based nonprofit Reclaim Finance get to know Corporate Social Responsibility officers, trawl through company statements and portfolios, and join shareholder calls. Reclaim Finance’s strategy is all about finding ways to pressure big financial institutions from the inside– and it works. She tells Akshat Rathi about some of the successes her organization has had, and why even bank employees who don’t care about green issues might find reasons to work with her.

Explore further:

• Past episode with Richard Curtis of Make My Money Matter about the push to make retirement plans greener
• Past episode on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and what happens when a “climate bank” goes under 
• Past episode with Brynn O’Brien of the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, a shareholder activist organization focused on publicly traded companies with net zero targets 

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim, Matthew Griffin, Natasha White, Alastair Marsh, and Mohsis Andam. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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