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Barclays Coal Plan Exposes Reach of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act

The UK bank is acting to phase out financing to the world’s dirtiest companies earlier than previously stated.

Joe Biden after signing H.R. 5376, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, on Aug. 16.

Joe Biden after signing H.R. 5376, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, on Aug. 16.

Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg

The Inflation Reduction Act is starting to change the way bankers view their climate targets.

Barclays Plc, one of Europe’s biggest coal financiers, said its analysis of the IRA has led it to commit to wind down its funding for coal in the US five years earlier than planned. Chief Executive Officer C.S. Venkatakrishnan told shareholders recently that the bank now expects to phase out its financing of thermal coal power in the US by 2030.