methodology
The Sustainable Power Policy Tracker uses a consistent and transparent scoring grid to assess the commitments taken by banks to support the generation, transmission, and distribution of sustainable power.
What does the Sustainable Power Policy Tracker assess?
This tracker currently covers the world’s top 60 banks. Banks have been identified thanks to the S&P Global Market Intelligence ranking from April 2022. Banks with little-to-no league credit for economy-wide financing were not selected. Credit Suisse is assessed through UBS following the merger of their banking activities in 2023. Eventually, more banks and other types of institutions (insurers and investors) might be integrated in the tracker.
The Sustainable Power Policy Tracker is a work in progress. Its methodology will evolve over time and it will be continuously updated whenever new commitments are published or existing ones are modified. The assessment is based on public documents issued by financial institutions such as sectoral policies, climate analytics and ESG reporting, specific web pages and press releases.
Each bank was invited to respond to a questionnaire in September 2023 and we welcome comments on an ongoing basis.
Commitments are rated according to five main criteria
For each criteria, the score range from 0 (worst) to 5 (best) with a color code (from red to green) to quickly identify the overall quality of commitments. Special mark-ups and indicators are used to provide additional information.
#1 Sustainable definition
The first criterion addresses the scope of financing for the energy transition: banks should avoid supporting unsustainable solutions and not restrain to power generation by integrating in the scope the electric network and energy storage.
#2 Financial target
The second criterion evaluates the financial target: it should be set at the group level in a coherent timeframe and guarantee a significant impact regarding banks activity in the energy sector.
#3 Capacity target
The third criterion evaluates the target for developing new power capacity: it should be set at the group level in a coherent timeframe and ensure that banks’ financing actually materialise in new installed capacity.
#4 Reporting
The fourth criterion covers the quality and transparency of reporting: reports should be updated annually, and should provide consistent information and details regarding energy sources, types of financing, geographical activity.
#5 Fossil fuel expansion
This highlights the financial institution’s position on the expansion of fossil fuels, more specifically on the support to companies with coal, oil & gas expansion plans. A successful energy transition implies both phasing out fossil fuels and phasing in sustainable energy.
Disclaimer
Despite our best efforts, inaccuracies may have appeared in our tracker and we may have missed an existing commitment. Feel free to contact us: research@reclaimfinance.org, we will make every effort to address your feedback and make any necessary correction.
