• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022 January 31, 2023
Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB January 31, 2023
Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty January 31, 2023
Rainforest Carbon Credits from World’s Biggest Provider are ‘Largely Worthless’, Investigation Finds January 31, 2023
Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing January 23, 2023
Next
Prev

Queen Elizabeth’s Wealth Manager Dumps Tar Sands/Oil Sands, Arctic Oil and Gas, Coal

June 28, 2020
Reading time: 3 minutes

Queen Elizabeth II/Facebook

Queen Elizabeth II/Facebook

1.3k
SHARES
 

Coutts, the private banker to Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the British royal family, has promised to drop its investments in the tar sands/oil sands, Arctic oil and gas exploration, and thermal coal extraction and generation, and to reduce the carbon intensity of its holdings 25% by the end of next year.

“The pledge was made in the company’s 2020 Sustainability Report, which also found that the firm had achieved a 23% reduction in carbon emissions from its Coutts Invest funds so far this year,” UK Investor Magazine reports. The bank is aiming for a 50% emissions reduction in its overall holdings by 2030.

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
New!
Subscribe

“Accountability for driving change towards a more sustainable planet is something we think is missing from society,” said Coutts Head of Responsible Investing Leslie Gent. “To date, there has been a lot of carrot and not much stick, and we believe that regulators should harden their stance to help drive real change.”

“Inaction is not an option,” agreed Head of Asset Management Mohammad Kamal Syed. “We invest with purpose and integrity, and with a keen focus on sustainability. It’s extremely important that we do this well. It’s not enough to simply sit back and do nothing to make it worse. We all have to do something tangible. Defeating climate change, for example, isn’t about what we believe, it’s about what we do.”

The sustainability report says Coutts will step out of companies that derive more than 5% of their revenue from the tar sands/oil sands, Arctic oil and gas exploration, or thermal coal extraction, or more than 25% from coal-fired electricity generation.

“Excluding these activities from our direct holdings is the smart thing to do as well as the sustainable thing to do,” Gent said. “We want to minimize our exposure to anything that’s inherently unsustainable because we believe the growing push to protect the environment will ultimately impact the value of the companies involved. As long-term investors, it’s vital we consider such long-term risks.”

The sustainability report also lays out Coutts’ criteria for choosing fund managers. “Where we invest directly, we exclude. And where we don’t have as much control, for instance with external fund managers, we influence,” it states.

The report sets the expectation that fund managers’ investment decisions will be in line with the targets in the 2015 Paris Agreement, that they’ve signed on to the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, and that they vote at the annual general meetings of the companies they invest in. (“And if they do,” Coutts asks, “what’s their voting record?)

UK Investor puts its own twist on the story, contending that “though today certainly marks a step in the right direction, there is certainly a lot more the company can do. Regarding climate change, the company must continue to shift more of its resources towards supporting the fast-growing renewable energy sector, and may even branch into impact investing.”

In the interest of justice, the publication continues, “Coutts could display the sincerity of its good will by investing in fossil fuel companies based in democratic countries with high standards of accountability. In taking such steps, the company would ensure it wasn’t supporting political leaders who perpetuate suffering, and could illustrate that despite being three centuries old, it has the potential to be a bank of the future.”



in Arctic & Antarctica, Canada, Clean Electricity Grid, Community Climate Finance, Culture, Ending Emissions, Oil & Gas, Tar Sands / Oil Sands, UK & Europe

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Mike Mozart/Flickr
Ending Emissions

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

January 31, 2023
322
Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures
Canada

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
196
CONFENIAE
Ending Emissions

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
61

Comments 4

  1. Ant Aus says:
    3 years ago

    We need new energy options which will preserve our planet and it’s fragile eco-systems.

    Reply
  2. Arne Sahlen says:
    3 years ago

    Brilliant! The only responsible way ahead….

    Reply
  3. Doug Alder says:
    3 years ago

    “Coutts could display the sincerity of its good will by investing in fossil fuel companies based in democratic countries with high standards of accountability. In taking such steps, the company would ensure it wasn’t supporting political leaders who perpetuate suffering, and could illustrate that despite being three centuries old, it has the potential to be a bank of the future.”

    Utter BS. There are no responsible ways to mine O&G. The product itself is environmentally destructive, the mining process is environmentally destructive (shale and oilsands in particular) so it matters little what the government of the time says or does if they allow such destruction to take place.

    Reply
  4. D says:
    3 years ago

    No don’t invest in fossil fuel companies at all whether they are in a democratic country or not. fossil fuels are done. help them convert to environmentally sustainable companies or processes or dispatch them to the museums like the dinasaurs they are. Thanks

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Mike Mozart/Flickr

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

January 31, 2023
322
RL0919/wikimedia commons

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.4k
Ken Teegardin www.SeniorLiving.Org/flickr

Virtual Power Plants Hit an ‘Inflection Point’

January 31, 2023
125
Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
196
/snappy goat

Rainforest Carbon Credits from World’s Biggest Provider are ‘Largely Worthless’, Investigation Finds

January 31, 2023
94
Doc Searls/Twitter

Guilbeault Could Intervene on Ontario Greenbelt Development

January 31, 2023
132

Recent Posts

CONFENIAE

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
61
Victorgrigas/wikimedia commons

World Bank Climate Reforms Too ‘Timid and Slow,’ Critics Warn

January 31, 2023
42
United Nations

Salvage of $20B ‘Floating Time Bomb’ Delayed by Rising Cost of Oil Tankers

January 27, 2023
121
@tongbingxue/Twitter

Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’

January 23, 2023
341
Rachel Notley/Facebook

Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom

January 23, 2023
313
EcoAnalytics

Albertans Want a Just Transition, Despite Premier’s Grumbling

January 23, 2023
323
Next Post

The wetter world ahead will suffer worse droughts

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}