2021 has been a rough year for the climate, and the watered-down commitments at COP26 did not lighten the mood. We’re still far from a fossil fuel phase out, despite the multiple warnings by climate scientists and the soaring number of extreme weather events.
We expected transformational policy shifts to put the planet back on track to stay below 1.5°C. Instead, governments and a long list of financial players gathered in Glasgow pledged to do more tomorrow, not today. They promised carbon neutrality by 2050 but nothing to reduce GHG emissions now.
2021 wasn’t all bad: there is a very clear redline against oil and gas expansion. More and more financial institutions are committed to exiting coal, and stopping oil and gas expansion. Another important positive signal: the European Central Bank has (finally!) acknowledged the need to integrate the climate in their monetary policy.
There are less visible but important battles taking place in Brussels which will shape and regulate the practices of financial players. The heated debates are a preview of the even bigger fight to come: there is growing consensus on the need for sustainability criteria in the operations of the financial sector, but still a lot of room for greenwashing.
Some financial institutions are definitely walking the talk, but their efforts are overshadowed by the many others which call themselves “green” but are doing nothing to move beyond the statu quo. To fight back, Reclaim Finance is growing. In 2021, our team grew threefold. In 2022, we will keep amplifying our efforts in support of more sustainable societies.
