Today, the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) released a standard for banks’ facilitated emissions that allows banks to measure and report only 33% of the emissions associated with their bond underwriting.
Banks have refused to take responsibility for their full impact of the emissions that result from the money they raise for companies in funds like bonds or shares, stalling the process until the methodology was sufficiently watered down.
Following PCAF’s failure, banks that are serious about net zero must take a different path and adopt a weighting of a 100% for their facilitated emissions.
“PCAF has just given banks a get-out-of-transparency-free card by allowing them to under-report their climate impact by two-thirds for years to come. While we strongly welcome PCAF encouraging banks to go further, the guidelines published today are further proof that voluntary climate initiatives cannot deliver what is needed for people and planet. It’s time for governments to step in and introduce mandatory requirements for banks to report on their full contribution to the climate crisis.”
– Jeanne Martin, Head of the Banking Programme at ShareAction