7/5/2023 0 Comments Drawdown financeFinance is a key lever for climate actionįor companies looking to make a climate-positive impact, finance-related climate actions are uniquely powerful.Īs James Vaccaro, executive director of the Climate Safe Lending Network, explained in the webinar, "Banks make long-term credit decisions based upon people’s or companies’ short-term cash holdings. Patagonia is one of only a handful of companies tracking these impacts, let alone working to eliminate or ameliorate them.Ĭompanies can influence the direction of those flows of finance into the real economy, to drive systemic change toward a green transition. Since then, Patagonia has been on a mission to decarbonize its corporate cash. In other words, those banks were lending a portion of Patagonia’s cash holding to projects that actively undermined the company’s values and mission. The companies that partner with these large banks are culpable for that climate harm.Īs an example, five years ago, Patagonia was actively supporting the water protectors' effort to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline when it realized that the banks directly funding the pipeline were some of Patagonia’s largest banking partners. Since 2015, the world’s 60 largest commercial and investment banks have channeled $4.6 trillion into the fossil fuel industry, even though the science clearly tells us that we can build no new fossil fuel infrastructure if we want to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Cash is not climate neutralīanks use cash from businesses to support a wide range of enterprises, including industries causing climate change, such as fossil fuels and deforestation-linked agriculture. (Editor’s note: To watch the full webinar, check it out here.) 1. The webinar was co-hosted by the organizations behind the breakthrough report: The Carbon Bankroll, which uncovered the previously hidden climate impacts of corporate cash holdings The Outdoor Policy Outfit (TOPO) BankFWD and the Climate Safe Lending Network - in addition to Bank On Our Future, an international network of social movements working to pressure the biggest banks to align their business practices with a fair and habitable future.īelow, we’ve summarized key points from that discussion for employees or executives looking to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their company’s financial supply chain. To become a " drawdown-aligned business," companies must begin to address the climate impact of their banking practices.ĭrawdown Labs, Project Drawdown’s private sector testing ground for accelerating climate solutions, recently hosted a webinar about decarbonizing corporate cash and investments. ![]() By leveraging financial relationships and resources, companies can accelerate the global finance transition toward "drawdown" - the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. ![]() The business community has access to enormous financial capital that can be powerfully deployed to shift the financial system away from carbon-intensive sectors and toward climate solutions and regenerative economic activity.
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