80% of board members at UK’s biggest banks linked to environmentally damaging companies – study

Research by investigative media outlet DeSmog UK has found that 80 percent of the board members at Britain’s five largest banks are affiliated with environmentally damaging companies, raising concerns about conflicts of interest.

The media group looked at 64 directors at five of the UK’s biggest banks – Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds and Standard Chartered – ahead of discussions at their upcoming annual general meetings about the commitments each financial institution is obliged to make to combat climate change.

Fifty of the directors were found to have previous or current links to companies seen as environmentally damaging or producing high carbon emissions, while a quarter of the officials were identified as having direct links to the fossil-fuel industry, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest that could influence their decision on climate change policy.

"Many of the banks’ directors have close ties to polluting industries and their financial backers, either as current directors, advisors or previous employees," DeSmog UK said in its report.

This could affect their ability to be impartial judges of shareholder resolutions trying to push the banks to actually end financing of fossil fuels.

Barclays and HSBC are expected to vote on shareholder proposals to reduce the bank’s ties to fossil fuels, although HSBC previously pledged to work towards a net-zero carbon-emissions goal in its investments by 2050. The chief executive of NatWest has said climate change is high up on the bank’s agenda.

Standard Chartered refused to comment on DeSmog UK’s report, while Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest have not so far responded to the findings.

The UK will host the COP26 UN climate conference in November 2021, at which it is expected to reiterate a pledge for the country to hit net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

DeSmog UK was launched in September 2014 to investigate energy and environmental issues in the UK, with the organisation seeking to be a “go-to source for accurate, fact-based information.”

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