According to ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott in an Environmental, Social and Governance briefing on Monday, ANZ is set to announce pathways and targets for oil and gas later this year, but will stop short of ruling out finance for oil and gas projects or companies.

According to Kelly Albion (they/them), Campaigns Director at 350.org Australia, “ANZ’s climate strategy is like asking a tobacco company to consider people’s health while funding them to make more cigarettes. You don’t fund companies like Santos, Origin and Glencore to open up new fossil fuel projects if you’re serious about the Paris Agreement – it’s that simple.”

“When ANZ releases their sector target for the oil and gas industry later this year, we are calling for a full exclusion of financing for corporations and projects that expand the industry and exit the sector by 2030. This is the only position consistent with the International Energy Agency’s recommendations for what’s needed to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.”

“ANZ customers are already living through the hardships of the climate crisis right now in flood affected Lismore, in towns where people are still living in caravans in the aftermath of the bushfires – and ANZ’s continued lending to fossil fuel corporations is making this crisis worse.”