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This page provides highlights of our benchmarking of the climate-related disclosures included in the 2021 annual reports and other standalone reports of 35 major, global banks. We have also benchmarked how banks' disclosures align with the recommended disclosures of the Task Force on Climate-related Disclosures (TCFD).

Most banks have a climate strategy centred around becoming a net-zero bank by 2050 (or earlier), focused on achieving net zero for their financed emissions and operational emissions. These banks usually disclose that they have aligned their net-zero commitments with the goals of the Paris Agreement – the international treaty on climate change adopted in 2015.

What is disclosed in the banks’ annual reports?

86 per cent of the banks disclose information on their climate strategy in the annual reports. When looking at the details of the disclosures made by the banks, many of the banks provide less detailed disclosures on climate strategy.

What is apparent in the disclosures across the banks is that they are continuing to commit large amounts to green or sustainable financing. This often appears as the focal point of their climate strategy. However, it is less apparent what the banks see as the climate-related opportunities in the medium to long term – this holds true for banks that have more detailed and less detailed disclosures. Without this information, it is often challenging for users of the annual reports to assess how robust their strategies are.

How does banks’ reporting align to the TCFD recommended disclosures?

Most banks have not yet completed their climate scenario analysis. We are yet to see full quantitative findings from scenario analysis or the actions taken as a result of those findings, which makes it challenging for users to assess how resilient the banks’ strategies are to climate-related risks and opportunities.

Many banks have committed to achieving net zero by 2050. However, their transition plans on how they intend to achieve this over the short, medium and long term are not yet clear in the disclosures.

Find out more - Read our analysis

Read our benchmarking analysis on how banks reported on climate-related matters in the 2021 reporting season. The reports include the scope and approach of our analysis. See phase 1 on how we have assessed the disclosures as ‘more detailed’, ‘less detailed’ or ‘no disclosures’ provided and phase 2 for the maturity scale we used to assess banks’ climate-related disclosures.

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