Standard Chartered has defended its net-zero climate ambitions after the bank was targeted by activists including Greta Thunberg last week.
The bank, which is based in London but does most of its business in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, announced on Thursday it would target net-zero carbon emissions from loans to clients by 2050, including hitting 2030 interim targets for the most carbon-intensive sectors.
Standard Chartered said it was putting the plans in place despite the fact that 33 of its 59 markets do not have a commitment to reach net zero by 2050.
The bank was targeted by the protesters including Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, on Friday demanding financial institutions stop funding the extraction of fossil fuels.
Andy Halford, Standard Chartered’s chief financial officer, said the commitments were “not greenwashing” and that the bank was doing a “huge amount to play our part in helping to get to net zero”. He added: “We are very, very determined to play a key role in this”.
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Standard Chartered’s profits for July to September rose to $996 million from $435 million a year earlier. Overall quarterly income rose 7 per cent to $3.8 billion from a year earlier.
Impairments were $107 million in the third quarter, compared with $353 million a year earlier. The figure was slightly higher than analysts had expected. Standard Chartered said it expected impairments to remain low for the remainder of the year. Its shares fell 4.8 per cent or 24½p to 481½p in early trading.
The bank maintained its outlook for flat earnings growth this year, citing an “uneven” economic recovery in its main markets, but it believes it will be able to return to targets of 5 per cent to 7 per cent growth from next year.
The bank set a goal last month to make half of its income from digital initiatives and other innovation. It said it would rebalance its investment in the business to spend $1 billion on strategic initiatives each year, double previous levels, with the aim of growing its retail and small business client base by 500 per cent.
It has created a digital bank in Hong Kong called Mox, which is “gaining customers at a pace”, and only marginally cannibalising Standard Chartered’s existing customer base, Halford said.
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Edward Firth, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, said the bank had issued a “disappointing” outlook.
