Getting to Glasgow: COP26 and banking partner, NatWest Group

Tackling climate change is the most important issue affecting the economy and inter-generational equity. I’ve spent the last 15 years of my career, in both the public and private sectors, championing climate-smart finance to help with the transition to net zero. As the Director for Climate Change at the World Bank, I know the role that public finance can play in accelerating climate action by derisking and mobilising private finance. As the principal banking partner for COP26, I believe NatWest Group really can make a difference. We have ambitious climate plans but we’ll work collaboratively with our peers and HM Government to make it a success by showing how changing finance flows can support climate action and showing that the UK can lead the way through inspiration and example.

Getting to Glasgow: COP26 banking Partner, NatWest Group, is leading the way with ambitious climate plans but achieving them is a team sport

After the financial crisis, Lord Adair Turner made the case for finance to be purpose-led and when @NatWestGroup announced their strategy was to be a purpose-led bank I was intrigued. When I found out that climate change was at the heart of the strategy I was excited and when they offered me the job of Head of Climate Change I was delighted .

I believe NatWest Group really can make a difference. Our customers, investors and stakeholders have high expectations of our climate ambitions, and rightly so. We take these expectations extremely seriously and we want to be a leading bank on climate change. We’ve demonstrated leadership by being one of the first banks to join the #Race to Zero and by becoming one of the founding members of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, which is part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). We are also the principal banking partner for COP26, and we’ll work collaboratively with our peers and HM Government to make it a success by showing how changing finance flows can support climate action and showing that the UK can lead the way through inspiration and example.

Our leadership starts from the top. We have full board support for our ambition and a phenomenally powerful climate advocate in our CEO, Alison Rose. Alison led the way at the GFANZ launch and is joining other leaders at the Business 7 this week to discuss how we can play our part in bringing about significant change, at speed, to build a more climate-resilient economy.

At NatWest Group, we’ve hit our target of being net zero carbon for our own operations and are now aiming to be climate positive by 2025. But getting our own house in order is only a part of our objective. Our targets on the climate impact of our financing are ambitious, require a transformation of our portfolio and will have a much bigger effect.

We were the first major UK bank to sign up to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTis) to align our lending and investment activities with the 2015 Paris Agreement. With over 19 million customers, we have a role to play to engage and inform customers, support suppliers and provide product solutions to fund and deliver decarbonisation goals. We can’t force our customers to change. We have to work with them. That is why we are working so hard to give them the tools to reduce their emissions to help them with their longer-term net zero strategies. For example:

• Accelerating the speed of transition: As well as giving our customers practical support such as the means to track and tackle their own carbon footprint through working with Fintech company, CoGo, our insights into residential lending can help us ensure that we can accelerate the retrofitting and improve the energy efficiency of the UK’s housing stock.
• Building powerful partnerships: We know 88% of businesses want to reduce the emissions in their supply chain but many don’t know how. That’s why we’ve joined forces with companies such as Microsoft, to drive forward net zero innovation to help our business customers understand and tackle their carbon footprint, and Octopus Energy to help customers decarbonise their transport. As the leading bank in the UK for business customers, we’re already working with Race to Zero to get Small and Medium Sized Enterprises to sign up.
• Helping to end the most harmful activity: We are working with the oil and gas sector to set out credible transition plans in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement. The alternative of pulling out altogether would lead to the displacement of jobs and disruption to the supply chain.

We do have high levels of ambition, but we can’t do this alone. Tackling climate change is very much a team sport and collaboration is the key to success: sectors becoming aware of what they have to do; businesses knowing they have support; and governments helping enable change. Banks like NatWest Group have to take responsibility, lead the way and work with others who have signed up to Race to Zero. The more we collaborate, the more likely it is we will succeed in hitting our targets. And the more we work together, the more we can scale up action and accelerate the Race to Zero – one of the biggest challenges of our time.

• Find out more about what NatWest Group is doing to help tackle climate change.
• Be part of the growing business momentum ahead of COP26. Join the Race to Zero
• Visit COP26 for all the latest news and events on climate action with a link to website

#RaceToZero #COP26 #climatechange #sustainability

With many thanks to @Sarah Binnie for her help in preparing this article.