Five of Europe’s Biggest Banks Join Low-Carbon Lending Effort

(Bloomberg) -- Five international banks with a combined loan portfolio of more than 2.4 trillion euros ($2.7 trillion) vowed to align their corporate lending with the Paris Agreement’s climate goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, the U.K.’s Standard Chartered Plc, and France’s BNP Paribas and Societe Generale SA, are joining Dutch bank ING Groep NV in plans to measure how well their portfolios align with a low-carbon economy and steer future lending to climate goals.

The banks, which announced the agreement Tuesday near the beginning of the Global United Nations climate talks in Katowice, Poland, said they’ll focus first on measuring their carbon assets in oil, gas, renewables, power, auto, shipping and aviation. They’ll also collaborate on tools, technology and metrics to track their progress and determine when to reduce their investments.

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