Lloyds Banking Group strengthens support for low carbon economy with new policy on coal

Lloyds Banking Group will no longer finance new coal-fired power stations or thermal coal mines as part of its support for the transition to a lower-carbon future, it announced today.

The decision builds on Lloyds Banking Group’s launch earlier this year of a £2bn Clean Growth Finance initiative, which saw it offer discounted financing to clients investing in a lower carbon future.

Its latest Helping Britain Prosper Plan also includes a commitment to power five million homes by 2020 through supporting renewable energy projects in the UK.

Lloyds Banking Group will continue to work with existing clients whose operations include coal mining or power generated from coal, or supply equipment or services to these sectors, to actively support their transition to lower carbon models in line with the Paris Agreement.

David Oldfield, Group Director, Commercial Banking said: “We are already committed to supporting businesses that are leading the way by investing in renewable energy and a cleaner future, including those that are diversifying their business models away from fossil fuels.

“To achieve the aims set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement, continued reduction in the amount of coal mined and used to generate electricity is needed. This announcement reiterates our commitment to support the transition.”

Lloyds Bank’s Clean Growth Finance scheme aims to deliver the most inclusive UK green funding in the market by offering discounted lending to help businesses invest in reducing their environmental impact.

This includes helping businesses to reduce carbon and greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy and water efficiency, reduce waste and make other improvements to their environmental sustainability.

The Group has also partnered with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership to provide specialist training to more than 300 relationship managers to help them support clients’ transition to a more sustainable economy, so far 100 relationship managers have been trained.

In 2016, Lloyds Bank launched its first £1bn green funding fund for commercial real estate, aimed at helping clients to reduce the CO2 emissions by improving the energy efficiency of 10 million square feet of real estate by 2020.