Bank lending to plastics industry faces scrutiny as pollution concerns mount

Citi Port Financial Services

07/01/2021 24:01

By Matthew Green
    LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Banks have provided $1.7 trillion
of finance to 40 companies in the plastics supply chain 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 U.S. 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 'okay, 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  BAC.N , Citigroup Inc  C.N  and
JPMorgan Chase & Co  JPM.N  as the three biggest financiers of
plastics between January 2015 and September 2019. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2HI5AZ
    Each bank provided from $144 billion to $172 billion in
loans and underwriting to companies from chemicals, packaging
and drinks manufacturers to retailers, the report found.
    Barclays  BARC.L  and HSBC  HSBA.L  were ranked as the
largest plastics financiers among European peers, extending $118
billion and $96 billion respectively.
    Citigroup referred Reuters to existing sustainability
commitments. JPMorgan, Barclays and HSBC declined to comment.
Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request 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 re-use and recycling schemes, and by
lobbying governments to support such measures, the report said. 

 (Reporting by Matthew Green; Editing by Sam Holmes)
 ((M.Green@thomsonreuters.com;))