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OIC banks can improve their climate impact by learning from the challenges of global banks
In the face of rising concerns over greenwashing, OIC banks have an opportunity to enhance their climate impact by learning from global banks' challenges. While the pace of responsible finance targets has quickened, so has the scrutiny from stakeholders and regulators. An analysis by RepRisk indicates that greenwashing risks for companies have fallen for the first time since 2019, highlighting the evolving landscape financial institutions must navigate. With an increasing emphasis on transparent and actionable climate targets, OIC banks can draw valuable insights from the Transition Pathways Initiative's (TPI) recent report on transition in the banking system, which underscores the importance of comprehensive target-setting and decarbonization planning.
The report sheds light on the pitfalls faced by larger banks, such as overly narrow climate targets and the lack of comprehensive disclosures on capital market activities. As OIC financial institutions and those in Islamic finance aim to decarbonize their portfolios, they must consider sectoral relevance, the materiality of emissions, and the integration of broader metrics like the Energy Supply Financing Ratio. Ultimately, the focus should shift from merely disclosing targets to implementing strategies that drive real-world economic changes, thereby aligning with global efforts to limit warming and promote a Just Transition.
Banks in the GCC region are tackling climate transition risk, but it remains a ‘work-in-progress’
Standard & Poor’s Ratings has this week addressed frequently asked questions about climate transition risk facing banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, describing banks’ efforts in measuring the risk to date as a ‘work-in-progress’. On financed emissions, like those covered by RFI Foundation’s financed emissions database, S&P highlighted that “banks' difficulties with measuring scope 3 emissions come up regularly in our discussions”. This is understandable because emissions measurement is an almost universal challenge for banks globally.
This context of data gaps was a motivating factor for the way RFI undertook its financed emissions work, which is catalogued in an open-access database with five years of data covering banks and financial markets in the six GCC countries and five other OIC markets. The financial sector plays a key role in financing the transition and will need substantial new capabilities beyond what they have now to understand the many types of climate transition risk they face from the activities they finance.
Is It Possible To Define Criteria For Net Zero Credibility For Financial Institutions?
SBTi’s document is the latest step in the process of creating a financial institution Net Zero (FINZ) standard to be released in 2024
The criteria outlined are ambitious in their coverage of financed and facilitated emissions, which are defined as “Category 15+”, referring to the GHG Protocol’s substantially narrower definition of financed emissions
It will remain challenging to develop a consistent framework for forward-looking Net Zero plans that incentivize investment in transition activities while avoiding easier but less meaningful ‘portfolio decarbonization’