Climate Changed

Banks With $100 Billion in Shipping Loans Get Strict on Climate

  • Lenders agree principles to limit funding for dirty ships
  • Emission targets in industry seen tightening in 2023
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
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A group of financiers with $100 billion of loans to shipowners are about to get stricter on the kinds of vessels they’ll finance as part of a drive to improve the maritime industry’s environmental performance.

Eleven major financiers including Citigroup Inc. and Societe Generale SA are for the first time adopting a set of principles requiring them to maintain their lending books in a way that matches goals in the Paris climate agreement, as well as related targets adopted by global regulator the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization.