Related Articles
Top Stories
May 25 2012 13:58
The costs of the first phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project have increased significantly to almost R90bn, according to a report.
May 25 2012 11:36
The JSE has identified and stopped "incorrect" trades from one of its members, and will reverse the trades and lower the session's total value after the close.
May 24 2012 17:31
The Reserve Bank will maintain current interest rates, and a considerable reduction in the local petrol price is anticipated, says governor Gill Marcus.
Durban - Leading banks around the world lent €232bn to the
coal industry, one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases, from 2005 to
2010, campaigners said on Tuesday.
The figures, presented on the sidelines of November
28-December 9 UN climate talks in Durban, come from a trawl through the lending
portfolios of 93 of the world's leading banks, they said.
The total value of financing for 31 major coal mining
companies and 40 producers of coal-fired electricity amounted to €232bn over the five years.
"Our figures clearly show that coal financing is on the
rise," said Tristen Taylor of Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, one of four
groups that combined to compile the report Bankrolling Climate
Change.
"Between 2005 and 2010, coal financing almost doubled.
If we don't take banks to task now, coal financing will continue to grow."
Coal has emerged as the biggest single area of concern about
greenhouse gas sources.
Emissions from coal-fired plants have rocketed as emerging
giants, led by China and India, turn to a fuel that is cheap, plentiful and
free of geopolitical risk, but also a massive emitter of carbon dioxide (CO²).
The top three banks lending to the coal industry, according
to the report, are JP Morgan Chase, which funded €16.5bn; Citi (€13.7bn) and Bank of America (€12.6bn).
They were followed by Morgan Stanley (€12.11bn);
Barclays (€11.51bn); Deutsche Bank (€11.47bn); Royal Bank of Scotland
(€10.94bn); BNP Paribas (€10.69bn), Credit Suisse (€9.49bn) and
UBS (€8.21bn).
Three Chinese banks - Bank of China, Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank - were also listed in the
top 20 lenders.
"Interestingly, almost all of the top 20 climate-killer
banks in our ranking have made far-reaching statements regarding their
commitment to combating climate change," said Yann Louvel of BankTrack,
an NGO that monitors the activities of banks.
"However, the numbers show that their money is not
where their mouth is."
CO² levels surged by 2.3 parts per
million (ppm) between 2009 and 2010, according to the World Meteorological
Organisation (WMO).
They have risen by around a third since pre-industrial times
and are now at their highest in 650 000 years, say climate scientists.
A German environmental group, urgewald, and a South African
campaign group, GroundWork, also contributed to the report.