CitiGroup recently updated its environmental policy and announced a plan to end coal power financing. Not only does the bank plan to no longer finance companies interested in expanding their coal-fired power generation, CitiGroup will phase-out financing for all coal power companies in the next 20 years.
According to the Sierra Club, CitiGroup’s plan is “the strongest coal power policy from a major U.S. bank to date.”
“It’s encouraging to see Citigroup take an important step toward ending the financing of coal-fired power plants and provide a new bar for other major U.S. banks to meet and exceed, yet there are significant shortcomings with this new policy, especially for one of the world’s largest coal power funders,” Ben Cushing, financial advocacy campaign manager of Sierra Club, said.
The announcement came just a month after CitiGroup pledged to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions in financing by 2050.
CitiGroup’s goal to stop financing coal power companies includes:
- no new clients that plan to expand coal-fired power generation after 2021
- phase-out power companies that generate 5 percent or more of their electricity from coal by 2025
- stop financing any such clients by 2030 in OECD countries and by 2040 in the rest of the world
“Citi must stop financing the expansion of coal power immediately and set a clear timeline to stop financing coal power companies altogether, without loopholes, in line with what climate science and justice demands,” Cushing said.
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