DBS has launched a set of decarbonization targets covering not only the bank but its own client base in what it says is among the most comprehensive set of commitments by any bank worldwide.
DBS says the idea is to provide an actionable plan to get to net zero emissions, following the bank becoming a signatory of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance in October 2021. Delivering upon that plan is going to require a redirection of the bank’s financing towards less carbon-intensive industries – an ambition long underway – but also persuading clients to change too.
“It is our responsibility to reduce GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions from our own operations and, more importantly, to engage with our clients to reduce their GHG footprint through the activities we finance,” the bank says.
Across seven high-emission industry sectors, between them representing 31% of DBS’s outstanding loans but accounting for the majority of the institutional bank group’s financed emissions, the bank has set specific targets either for outright emissions (in oil and gas), or intensity of emissions.
I wouldn’t have done this if we hadn’t talked to 3,000 clients and built a degree of confidence that our clients are on the same path
The sectors with emission intensity targets are power, automotive, aviation, shipping, steel and real estate.
