Lloyds will halve carbon financing by 2030

Lloyds Banking Group has pledged to cut carbon by more than 50% in the next decade to help finance a green future.

Lloyds Banking Group has announced its new ambition to accelerate working with customers, government and the market to help reduce the carbon emissions they finance by more than 50% by 2030.

This commitment recognises the urgent need to tackle climate change, grow the green economy and promote green finance for the future business prosperity of the UK.

To begin, Lloyds Banking Group will announce products and services in 2020 to support and invest in greener finance for the UK. They will also support businesses by financing their investments in the green economy, as well as helping to improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings.

Lloyds are investing in a cleaner, greener UK by supporting schemes that work to reduce the impact of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide.

One way they are doing this is through their newly announced partnership with the Woodland Trust to plant ten million trees over the next ten years expanding the UK’s carbon sink and helping to reforest the UK.

During the lifecycle of the trees planted, 2.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide could be absorbed, equivalent to the harmful emissions produced from eight years of UK waste management.

António Horta-Osório, Group Chief Executive, said: “The next decade will be crucial for protecting the planet for future generations, and financial services has a critical role to play. We are fully committed to supporting our customers, clients and colleagues to transition to a low carbon economy, working closely with other organisations and government to create the solutions that will accelerate progress and ultimately help Britain prosper.”

Lloyds has already made crucial steps to reduce their emissions. They currently have the UK’s largest ultra-low emission vehicle fleet, with more than 21,000 ultra-low emission vehicles. They are also leaders in green bonds, in the past five years they have led around £2.8bn of green bonds to UK corporates – more than any other UK bank.

By 2050, Lloyds aim to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050 and say they will accelerate activity in 2020, developing new carbon, energy and travel targets.

Read the full statement from Lloyds here.