How vegan is your bank?
One area we perhaps don't think about through the vegan lens is banking, saving and investment
We all need a bank account, right — but have you considered how vegan your bank is? Have you ever thought about what the big banks invest in? What about sustainability? Your bank's ethical stance? Yes, we should simply all be vegan for the animals, but intrinsic to that is a need to protect the environment — the animals' habitat. Taking your vegan beliefs beyond food and shopping is important, and so who you bank with is worth thinking about for a moment.
Today, there are more and more small, digital-only banks setting up. While the new banks provide more consumer choice, it's also easier than ever to switch banks, and a great opportunity to help bring about positive change by voting with your wallet.
The villains
Did you know UK-headquartered HSBC is among the largest global financiers of fossil fuels in the world? An industry report, ‘Banking on Climate Chaos' suggests HSBC has delivered $110.7 billion USD in financing to fossil fuels since the Paris climate agreement was signed in late 2015. In fact, in the years since the Paris Agreement, the world's 60 biggest banks have financed fossil fuels to the tune of $3.8 trillion USD, according to the report. And Barclays is Europe's largest financier of fossil fuels. Barclays apparently supplied £105 billion GBP in finance for fossil fuel projects from 2016 to 2020, according to the report — including £20 billion GBP in 2020 alone. Meanwhile, NatWest provided £10 billion GBP over the same time period, Standard Chartered provided £23 billion GBP and Lloyds provided £2.5 billion GBP. Santander is a major funder of the oil and gas industry, and also a key financier to JBS, Brazil's biggest beef producer, which is the largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the global meat and dairy sector.
This project funding by the big banks is not only often in support of fossil fuel projects but the nature of the projects frequently means displacing animals, devastating the natural environment and displacing indigenous people. As one of the climate chaos report's authors, Alison Kirsch, climate and energy lead researcher at the Rainforest Action Network, told The Independent: “UK banks are a really big part of the problem.”
They fund agriculture, aviation, road transport, mining, plastics, forestry and paper production, construction and shipping. Big bank boardrooms are also full of people working directly for some of the world's most problematic companies, too. In fact, an investigation by environmental blog DeSmog revealed that 50 out of the 64 current directors of Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds and Standard Chartered have a past or current connection with some sort of “highly polluting” industry.
It's clear that the big banks are entrenched in funding a great deal of business which doesn't sit well with vegans. So, why would you keep your money with them? But wait — there is hope. There are good players emerging in the new digital era of banking.
The good guys
First up, don't be swayed by ‘greenwashing.' Some banks might wax lyrical about using solar power, switching to recycled paper and only delivering statements and letters by email; but these are tokens compared to the devastating effect of their long-term funding of environmentally-damaging projects. Secondly, don't be overwhelmed by choice. A great place to start is the website switchit.green which can help you discover how bad (or good) your current bank is, with its rating system. And if and when you decide to switch banks, hit up this UK switching website (currentaccountswitch. co.uk), which makes it dead easy to do.
The winds of change are knocking the big High Street banks off their pedestals.
For example, Charity Bank is the world's first not-for-profit bank. Its ethical purpose is to only invest its savers' money in charities and social purpose organisations, and although it currently only offers savings accounts and loans, it bodes well for the more ethical future of banking. Meanwhile, Triodos Bank positions itself as a community with a mission to “make money work for positive change.” It lends to projects that are of benefit to people and the environment, and it is currently funding pan-European projects to the value of £8.5 billion GBP. It's a fully-fledged B Corp, and its debit cards are even made of plant-based materials.
Nationwide Building Society has always been answerable to its ‘members', so operates to a higher ethical degree than other institutions, and could be described as among the best of a bad bunch. Co-op Bank is one of the few long-established High Street banks with a transparent, comprehensive lending policy, but it was bought out by US hedge funds some years ago, which muddies the waters in terms of its indirect investment dealings.
When considering your options, look for banks that display industry marks and accreditations, such as the Good Shopping Guide, Responsible Finance Provider, B Corp, The Social Enterprise Mark, Social Enterprise UK and the Global Alliance for Banking on Values.
Just like voting with your wallet on the High Street, we can make a dramatic impact on the way banks operate by leaving those organisations which don't have a transparent, ethical approach to business. While they continue to fund huge global ‘Big Ag', oil and gas, weaponry and other unethical sectors, we need to show them we mean business by taking our business elsewhere.