Banking Is the Pressure Point for Climate

In 2015, then-Secretary of State John Kerry called the Paris climate treaty a “tremendous victory.” In the years since, $3.8 trillion has flowed into fossil fuels globally.

Now Kerry and other White House officials are focusing on banks and insurers that are still offering a lifeline to new fossil fuel projects. Can they slow the flow of cash?

This week: why finance is the main pressure point for climate.

Today, all the major banks are collectively supporting hundreds of billions of dollars worth of renewables projects every year. 

But few are giving up on fossil fuels. One environmental campaigner put it this way: “the banks are gorging on doughnuts and then eating an apple afterwards.”

A new analysis from DeSmog finds that 77% of board directors at the top-7 US banks have ties to “climate-conflicted” groups.

Earlier this year, New York University released a study showing that only 7 percent of board members in the top 100 US companies -- which includes many banks -- had any climate expertise at all.

This week, Justin Guay joins Katherine and Stephen as a guest co-host. Justin is the director of global climate strategy at the Sunrise Project. He’s been following the flow of money into climate-conflicted projects for a decade.

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