(23 March 2022 – Europe) Barclays intends to increase renewable energy financing and investment as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hastens the shift away from carbon emitting energy sources
Barclays reports that recent events will boost demand for investment in low-carbon energy infrastructure and outlined in in a climate-strategy report that it’s “determined to finance, on an even greater scale, the investment needed for transition.”
Climate pledges may now be harder to keep and the Bank projects a “volatile and non-linear” path toward cutting financed emissions, citing factors “beyond our control.” Since the Paris climate accord was ratified in 2015, Barclays has underwritten over US$58 billion of fossil-fuel bonds, more than any of its European competitors according to Bloomberg. In the same period the Bank was behind over US$40 billion in green bonds, ranking fifth in Europe. The group is aiming for a 30 percent decrease in the CO₂ intensity of its power portfolio by 2025. The Bank is also seeking to slash the emissions of its energy portfolio by 15 percent in the same period and align executive remuneration with the achievement of its climate goals.
“The appalling invasion of Ukraine has made it even more imperative to accelerate the energy transition” stated Barclays Chairman, Nigel Higgins.