FILE PHOTO: Employees of Deutsche Bank gather ahead of the bank’s annual shareholder meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, May 23, 2019. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo
July 27, 2020
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE>, in a revamp of its policies for fossil fuels, said on Monday that it would end business activities worldwide related to coal mining by 2025 at the latest.
The German lender also said that, effective immediately, it would not finance new projects in the Arctic or oil sand projects.
The new policies follow announcements earlier this year of new sustainability targets and the issuance of the bank’s first green bond.
Urgewald, a non-profit environmental and human rights organisation, said that the announcement was a welcome step forward but “still too little, too late”.
“Compared to international competitors the bank is still lagging behind on climate,” it said, pointing to BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA> and Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> as front runners.
Deutsche Bank said that it would review all of its U.S. and European coal power activities by the end of this year with respect to clients’ diversification plans. It will begin a similar review in Asia in 2022.
Deutsche chief executive Christian Sewing said the new policy “sets us ambitious targets and enables us to help our long-standing clients with their own transformation.”
(Reporting by Tom Sims; Editing by Michelle Martin)
