Deutsche Bank has tightened its policy of financing coal projects, but not oil and gas

Germany's Deutsche Bank on Thursday tightened its financing policy for the coal industry but has not yet changed its criteria for the oil and gas industry, prompting criticism from climate activists.

Source. This was reported by Reuters.

Germany's largest lender said it would not finance corporations that generate more than 30% of their revenues from coal and do not provide a "credible diversification plan" (previously, the threshold was 50%).

The bank said it would not provide project financing for thermal coal.

Deutsche Bank assured that it "plans to update its oil and gas policy" without specifying the timeframe.

"The coal industry is dying anyway, so it's not surprising that banks are finding the strength to distance themselves from coal," said activist Kate Cahoon. – "We are interested in stronger commitments on oil and gas as well.

Climate activists fear that the financial industry is allowing industries like coal and oil to continue to pollute the environment, and say Deutsche Bank has not done enough to stop it.

In February, a group of investors managing more than $1.5 trillion in assets wrote to the bank calling for it to stop direct financing of new oil and gas fields this year.

Deutsche says its oil and gas sector financing dropped by more than 20% last year, due to the bank's withdrawal from Russia and the end of support for Russian gas companies, rather than an active decision to stop financing some suppliers.

This corresponded to a 28.9% drop in carbon emissions associated with the bank's lending to the oil and gas sector.

In 2021, the International Energy Agency stated that investment in new oil, gas, and coal supply projects should be halted in order to reach zero emissions by mid-century.

Background. As a reminder, according to the IEA, Russia's oil and gas revenues fell by 40% in January.