Macquarie has reportedly become the first big Australian banking group to bail out of net-zero climate lending policies, after a trans-Tasman call backed by Wide Bay MP Llew O’Brien.
Mr O’Brien joined New Zealand ministers and seven other Australian Coalition MPs, including Queensland senator Matt Canavan, calling on Aussie banks to quit the United Nations-backed Net Zero Banking Alliance.
This followed Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the USA from the Paris Climate Accord, under which Australia has pledged to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and a 43 per cent reduction below 2005 levels within five years.
These goals will not be applied to designated “developing” nations, including major emitters China and India.
The big Australian banks – including National Australia Bank, Westpac Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the ANZ Group – are being asked to follow the American lead, which has recently seen 11 of the biggest US and Canadian banking groups quit the NZBA.
The MPs argued that continuing membership of the alliance by Australian banks now “risks hurting (export) competitiveness and access to finance.”
They say continuing membership of the NZBA requires “large restrictions on lending,” putting Australian farmers, miners and manufacturers at a disadvantage.
“At a time when Australian families are struggling with an unprecedented fall in living standards, we believe that the priority of all major political and business leaders should be on improving the strength of the Australian economy,” the letters said, adding that Australian productivity dropped five per cent in 2022 and 2023.
