Australia publishes first climate assessment for big five banks

The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) has published its first climate vulnerability assessment (CVA) for Australia’s five largest banks. The CVA was conducted over two years and covered ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac. The goal was to estimate the future financial risks that climate change poses to these banks and assess how they would respond. Helen Rowell, deputy chair of APRA, outlined the results: “The results suggest that banks’ losses from their lending portfolios could rise in the medium- to-long-term as climate change and the global response to it unfolds. Although those impacts are not expected to cause severe stress to the banking system, climate change could lead to the banking sector being more vulnerable to future economic downturns.” While welcoming the CVA results, Erwin Jackson, director of policy at the Investor Group on Climate Change, a coalition of institutional investors from Australia and New Zealand, said: “The assessments show banks changing their lending practices; that means pulling back from banking vulnerable industries and regions. Investors are also undertaking similar approaches in response to climate risks.”