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Article

15 Dec 2019

Author:
Rainforest Action Network

Goldman Sachs adopts strongest fossil finance policy by a major US bank

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Goldman Sachs announced the strongest fossil finance restrictions of any major U.S. bank, though it still lags behind its leading global competitors. It also remains far from alignment with what is needed to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius... With this policy revision, Goldman Sachs becomes the first major U.S. bank to establish explicit restrictions on financing for any part of the oil and gas sector. It is also the first major U.S. bank to rule out direct finance for thermal coal mines and plants worldwide... While other major U.S. banks have committed to reducing credit exposure to coal mining, their approach restricts only lending, ignoring the large amounts of capital the banks facilitate for the coal industry from the underwriting of issuances of stocks and bonds. Goldman Sachs’s new policy tightens the screw on thermal coal by (1) including underwriting, and (2) explicitly committing to phase-out, not just reduction.

... Jason Opeña Disterhoft, Climate and Energy Senior Campaigner at Rainforest Action Network (RAN), issued the following statement... "This new policy from Goldman Sachs raises the bar for other U.S. banks... [It] comes after years of work from RAN and many others to highlight the role of Goldman Sachs and other banks in causing climate change... The prohibition on financing the oil industry’s desecration of the Arctic Refuge is due to tireless Indigenous-led resistance, including crucial advocacy by the Gwich’in Steering Committee... Major U.S. banks have been grossly lagging behind their global peers in restricting fossil fuel finance: European banks have the strongest policies, and Asian banks have been making the most rapid recent progress."