Goldman Sachs to stop financing new drilling for oil in the Arctic
Source: The Guardian
Goldman Sachs to stop financing new drilling for oil in the Arctic
US bank becomes the first to establish a no-go zone in the oil and gas sector
Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
@skirchy
Mon 16 Dec 2019 04.41 GMT
Last modified on Mon 16 Dec 2019 04.43 GMT
Goldman Sachs has ruled out future financing of oil drilling or exploration in the Arctic and said it would not invest in new thermal coal mines anywhere in the world.
The new environmental policy, which was released by the US bank on Sunday, was praised by environmentalists, though many warned that it was only a first step.
In its statement, Goldman Sachs also “acknowledged” the scientific consensus on the climate crisis, which it said was one of the “most significant environmental challenges of the 21st century” and said it planned to more effectively help its client manage climate impacts, including through the sale of weather-related catastrophe bonds.
Jason Opeña Disterhoft, a climate and energy campaigner at Rainforest Action Network (RAN), which helped to lobby for the change, said the decision to rule out direct financing for Arctic exploration made Goldman the first US bank to establish a “no-go” zone in the oil and gas sector.
“Goldman Sachs’s updated policy shows that US banks can draw red lines on oil and gas, and now other major US banks, especially JPMorgan Chase – the world’s worst banker of fossil fuels by a wide margin – must improve on what Goldman has done,” he said.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/16/goldman-sachs-to-stop-financing-new-drilling-for-oil-in-the-arctic
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