Below a guesstimate of direct day to day Banking emissions - 70 MTCO₂e / year, however we also have to add to this the less obvious but much greater emissions resulting from the Finance sector. For example, the UK Finance sector alone responsible for 805 MTCO₂e.
For further comparison, the emissions from Wall Street financing tracked in the report, are equal to emissions spewed into the air by 432 million passenger vehicles in one year!
For further comparison, the emissions from Wall Street financing tracked in the report, are equal to emissions spewed into the air by 432 million passenger vehicles in one year!
These 38 Fossil Banks are among the biggest financiers of the fossil fuel industry. A handful have adopted policies excluding or restricting financing for some parts of the industry, but none have yet committed to stop funding fossil fuels altogether.
Universal basic income for the rich.
When the final meltdown occurred in September 2008, Congress passed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the (in)famous $700 billion bank bailout of the financial sector. The gains, it turned out, were privatized—the losses were socialized. Wall Street was pro-free market until they were in trouble.
2008 Bank Bailout: Its True Cost, and Who Paid It
2008 Bank Bailout: Its True Cost, and Who Paid It
Self Reporting ESG
If we're lucky, the banks show us their scope 1 & 2 emissions, but they never like to show the detail. They will gladly tell you how much they "reduced" emissions by or how everything is 94% renewables or "offset". So I'd take everything with a massive pinch of salt.
From Barclays ESG Report below (page 45)
From Barclays ESG Report below (page 45)
HSBC Bank direct (Scope 1 & 2) emissions from their ESG report. The remarkable reduction is mainly due to Covid.