ING will accelerate its investments in the extraction and exploration of oil and gas. From 2040 it no longer wants to invest money in those activities. The previous goal was to reduce mining and exploration by half by then. ING made the plans announced in a press release on Wednesday.
The target for 2030 has also been tightened. Then ING wants to cut not 16, but 35 percent of investments in fossil extraction and exploration. Also part of ING’s plans is to triple investments in sustainable energy over the next two years, to 7.5 billion euros. Investments in the exploration and production of fossil fuels currently amount to 4 billion euros.
ING says in the press release that it will discuss oil and gas with its customers in the coming years, just as it previously discussed phasing out investments in coal with customers.
Dubai Climate Summit
The largest bank in the Netherlands came to this decision after the outcome of the climate summit in Dubai, which took place this and last month. In the final declaration, the participating countries pledged to ‘move away’ from fossil fuels.
According to various environmental groups, ING has been doing too little for years to reduce its investments in fossil energy. The bank is one of the possible companies against which Milieudefensie wants to file a case because it is not taking enough action to combat dangerous climate change. That action group won a case against Shell in 2021. The judge then ruled that the listed oil and gas company must reduce greenhouse gas emissions more quickly to meet the requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement. An appeal in that case is due this year.
Activists from Extinction Rebellion and FossielVrij want ING to immediately stop investing in fossil fuels. According to the bank, this is not responsiblebecause society is still too dependent on it.
ING opened slightly higher on the Damrak on Wednesday morning.
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