Biggest polluters need ‘breathing space' to reform, DBS says
Major polluters need support to develop credible plans to curb emissions instead of being held to unrealistic demands for reforms, according to DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Southeast Asia's largest lender.Coal still accounts for almost half of total energy supply in the Asia-Pacific region, and sectors including shipping and steel-making continue to face challenges in decarbonizing quickly.'We need to give everyone a bit of breathing space to develop transition plans,' Helge Muenkel, the bank's chief sustainability officer, said in an interview on the sidelines of the Ecosperity Week conference in Singapore.DBS has previously warned that emissions tied to its customers could rise in the short-term. The trajectory will be impacted by its efforts to direct more funding to support the early retirement of coal power plants, and development of supply chains for critical minerals and other products required for green technology like electric vehicles.Banks in Europe are coming under new pressure to stand by strict climate commitments, and both Barclays Plc and Standard Chartered Plc will face calls from investors this week to accelerate lending to clean energy.DBS, which lifted sustainable financing commitments to S$89 billion ($69 billion) at the end of 2024 from S$70 billion the previous year, will aim to hold customers to account over their transition efforts, Muenkel said in the Tuesday interview.'If customers after engagement don't give us a sense that they really want to move, then ultimately that's actually a concern,' Muenkel said. 'Then we need to discuss cutting lines, disbanding relationships.'The bank has chosen to remain a member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance , the finance sector climate group that's been abandoned by Wall Street and a series of lenders across Asia.'We like collective action, we like platforms that foster collaboration,' he said. 'It has proven to be actually very helpful.'
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