NatWest Group has supported its customers with £17.5bn climate and sustainability funding and financing in 2021, the bank’s new climate-related disclosures show.
This includes £8.1bn since launching its new target to lend £100bn to these projects by 2025 in July last year.
Lending to oil and gas companies fell by 21% in 2021 from £4.1bn to £3.25bn, now making up 0.7% of the bank’s overall lending.
From January 2022, the bank will only continue to support upstream oil and gas companies where the majority of their assets being financed are based in the UK (onshore or offshore UK Continental Shelf); and, where those companies report to the overall emissions of the assets they operate by end of 2023.
These changes follow on from the bank updating its coal lending policy in November last year which set out a full phase-out from coal in the UK by 2024 and globally by 2030.
NatWest also published an update of its analysis on oil and gas majors customers and those customers with more than 15% of their activities related to coal to understand whether they have a Credible Transition Plan in line with the Paris Agreement.
In total, customers with £1.4bn financing from NatWest Group were identified as requiring a CTP.
As a result of this work, £500m lending to these businesses will be retained.
In 2021, the Coutts Asset Management Centre of Expertise reduced the carbon intensity of the equity holdings of all funds and discretionary portfolios by an average of 38% and committed to reach net zero emissions across managed investments by 2050.
As of 31 December 2021, NatWest Group had analysed 52% of its gross lending and investment balances at full year 2019 estimated for financed emissions.
The group announced earlier today that it had made a huge profit as it increased to £4bn.
Alison Rose, chief executive at NatWest Group, said: “Our aim in 2022 is to put our customers at the heart of our climate approach, supporting them with practical tools, support and financing to support the transition.
“As one of the UK’s biggest banks and the largest lender to business, we have both the ability and the responsibility to support our customers to reduce their carbon emissions.
“Our research has found that SMEs could create up to 130,000 new jobs, produce around 30,000 new businesses and result in an estimated £160 billion opportunity for the UK economy. We want to help our customers to realise this potential.”
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