, which shows that the world’s use of coal-fired electricity is on track this year for its biggest annual fall after more than four decades of near-uninterrupted growth that has stoked the global climate crisis.reported that coal-fired electricity is expected to drop by 3% in 2019 and could help stall the world’s rising carbon emissions this year.report considers the role of banks in financing high greenhouse gas emitting industries and the corresponding risk of instability in financial markets.
Global greenhouse gas emissions must peak in 2020 and then decline rapidly to keep global warming within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, according to the UN Environmental Programme. The report adds: “High debt at the power utility, which makes it difficult to implement a strategy, could be a possible cause of the lack of disclosure. Eskom provides no scenario analysis based on the Paris Agreement commitment to keeping global warming below two degrees above pre-industrial levels, placing South Africa at risk of failing to meet its international commitments.”
The five South African banks assessed — Absa, Firstrand, Standard, Investec and Nedbank — have a combined asset value of more than R6.8-billion. “Bank assets are funded by our deposits and investments, and some of those assets may be at risk if they are invested in highly exposed sectors,” the report notes. “Without disclosure of the concentration of assets in carbon related sectors, we are not aware of the extent of their risks.
In its annual report, Absa mentions physical climate events that may have “credit and insurance implications” but does not report on the more pressing transitional risks nor, more generally, the risks in its lending and other financial intermediary business activities.