Bankers “are profiting hugely” from their role as lenders and advisers to fossil fuel companies, Gore said in an interview ahead of Climate Week, the annual gathering in New York of business and government leaders that occurs in conjunction with the UN General Assembly. Just as it’s “a bit unrealistic to expect fossil fuel companies to solve this crisis for us when they’re incentivized to do otherwise,” the business case for banks is the same, he said.
And oil analysts are already suggesting that this week’s departure of BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney, who had stood out among peers for his efforts to push the company toward a greener strategy, will be welcomed by BP investors. The banks financing oil “are earning big profits from continuing what they’ve done for so long,” Gore said. “And yet they know they have to change.”
Gore said putting an oil executive from a petrostate in charge of climate talks represents a “dubious proposition, at best.” The report also says the annual flow of investment funds into clean energy is now 70% larger than the flow into fossil fuels.