Plastic under scrutiny: Bank lending to industry faces opposition
Banks have provided $1.7 trillion of finance to 40 companies in the plastics supply chain over nearly five years without imposing any requirements to tackle plastic pollution pouring into the world’s rivers and oceans, according to a report published on Thursday.
With European and US banks increasingly spurning the most polluting fossil fuel projects to help slow climate change, campaigners want lenders to take a similar approach to plastics by making loans conditional on measures to boost recycling.
“What the financial sector needs now is someone to step forward and say ‘OK, we’re going to take a look at plastics,’ and then others will follow”, said Robin Smale, director of Vivid Economics, a consultancy which audited the report.
Compiled by Portfolio.earth, a research network, the report ranked Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co as the three biggest financiers of plastics between January 2015 and September 2019.
Each bank provided between $144bn and $172bn in loans and underwriting to companies from chemicals, packaging and drinks manufacturers to retailers, the report found.
Barclays and HSBC were ranked as the largest plastics financiers among European peers, extending $118bn and $96bn, respectively.
Citigroup referred the Reuters news agency to existing sustainability commitments. JPMorgan, Barclays and HSBC declined to comment to Reuters. Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment.
Public concerns over plastic have risen in recent years, as scientists have discovered contamination in once-pristine environments from ocean depths to the Arctic.
The report said none of 20 global banks that provided the bulk of financing for the plastic packaging industry had introduced any due diligence or exclusion criteria.
But banks could tackle plastic pollution by making loans contingent on ambitious reuse and recycling schemes, and by lobbying governments to support such measures, the report said.
