Contact: Ayse Gursoz, (650)391-6443, ayse@ran.org
Rainforest Action Network welcomes the commitments released yesterday by Standard Chartered prohibiting them from providing financial services for new and existing tar sands and Arctic oil production and exploration activities, new standalone thermal coal mines and many pure-play coal mining companies.
RAN climate program director Patrick McCully, said, “Standard Chartered’s new policy is a further sign that responsible financiers are rapidly distancing themselves from tar sands, Arctic oil and coal. It comes on the heels of the recent announcement from Europe’s largest bank, HSBC, restricting support for tar sands and coal power, and is the latest in a series of policies from banks and insurance companies responding to activist pressure on extreme fossil fuels. We look forward to hearing more on how the bank intends to implement the policy, in particular whether they will apply their prohibition to companies involved in these sectors or only to projects, and whether it extends to underwriting in addition to lending. In their full policy, they should seize the opportunity to strengthen their restrictions on coal power as well.”
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