The industrial livestock industry represents a small portion of big banks’ financing portfolios — but it may be responsible for a disproportionately large share of the greenhouse gas emissions of all companies with which the banks do business, according to a key finding in a report from the environmental nonprofit group Friends of the Earth United States and the research group Profundo.
The report, “Bull in the Climate Shop: Industrial Livestock Financing Sabotages Major U.S. Banks’ Climate Commitments,” was released Thursday, three years after the formation of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, a U.N.-convened group of global banks that committed to setting policies to limit the climate effects of their portfolios.
