Big banks have this month held their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) and FSU members took this opportunity to put some tough questions to CEOs and executives, including holding them to account on their climate policies.
Big banks have this month held their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) and FSU members took this opportunity to put some tough questions to CEOs and executives, including holding them to account on their climate policies.
As members know, the FSU has been working closely with Market Forces to put the pressure on big banks to end financing of fossil fuel projects and the companies developing them.
We know our members care deeply about the future of our planet and expect their employers to show leadership and take real action on this issue.
FSU Delegate, Westpac worker and Westpac shareholder Isy Fish raised concerns directly with Westpac at their AGM.
“My colleagues and I were deeply dismayed to hear that Westpac continues to fuel climate crisis by financially supporting companies that are expanding the fossil fuel industry,” Isy said to Westpac’s executive team.
“Westpac said that it stepped up its actions and commitments as the climate crisis becomes more urgent, but it’s hard to reconcile that with the fact that this bank continues to directly prop up companies that are making the problem worse.
“The climate crisis is urgent, and the bank should be acting like it is by refusing new finance to companies with no intention of transitioning away from fossil fuels.”
Isy called on Westpac CEO Peter King to consult with and involve workers and the FSU when developing climate policies.
Following the AGM, Peter King thanked Isy for her contributions to the AGM and invited Isy to join Westpac’s internal stakeholder engagement process to have a say on their fossil fuel lending policies.
FSU members Jimmy Whitfield, Chris Barron and Oliver Vaningen also attended NAB and ANZ’s AGMs to pose similar questions to their employers.
While all major banks have recently updated their climate policies with some good improvements, they continue to leave the door open to funding new fossil fuel developments.
In positive news, they have all announced transition plans from 2025 (which have the potential to put an end to our big four banks financing fossil fuel growth for good from 2025).
While these policy updates are a positive step forward, we’ll need to push the banks into closing the loopholes in their transition plans.
Workers will have a big role to play in holding banks to account for the next two years to ensure big projects are not greenlit before the transition plans come into effect.
You can find out more about each bank’s climate commitments in detail here, and send them a message calling on them to fix their policy loopholes and address their transition plan shortfalls.
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