MUFG and SMBC's UN climate exit signals a troubling retreat from sustainability Eri Watanabe is a senior Japan energy finance campaigner at Market Forces, a clean energy finance advocacy group working across Asia and Australia. Japan's two largest banks, MUFG and...
Opinion
Is Japan a friend in need or a friend indeed for Bangladesh?
By Munira Chowdhury, Asia Energy Analyst, Market Forces, a clean energy finance advocacy organisation working across Asia. Munira is an author on Bangladesh energy affairs and a former policy researcher in Bangladesh. Six months since Bangladesh was born anew, the...
Japan’s trading houses have a duty to turn off the gas
Corporate giants are able to spread renewable energy and shape policies across Asia By Sachiko Suzuki, Asia climate and energy analyst for Market Forces, a Melbourne-based initiative researching the financing of environmentally destructive projects. Japan's largest...
Macquarie’s climate credentials up in smoke
By Kyle Robertson, Senior Banks Analyst, Market Forces. Macquarie Bank has sent shockwaves around the world quietly announcing it has quit the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) this week, taking the dubious honour of being the first major Australian financial...
Climate heat is still on investors despite BlackRock’s net zero exit
By Will van de Pol, CEO, Market Forces. Mr van de Pol is an expert in ethical asset management and clean energy finance. It is hard to rationalise the recent decisions United States banks and investors have made to quit climate initiatives at the same time as global...
Banks must bring in 2025 with a big bang for the climate
By Will van de Pol, Chief Executive Officer, Market Forces, clean energy finance advocacy organisation. What’s your New Year’s resolution? The Commonwealth Bank has made a groundbreaking resolution to stop funding coal, oil and gas companies without genuine plans...
Opinion: Gas is burning our climate faster, and Australia’s part of the problem
By Professor Lesley Hughes, climate scientist Earth is on track to experience the hottest year on record. It comes on the heels of another record-breaking 365 days of scorching temperatures, raging fires, floods and storms wreaking mayhem in all...
Asia’s corporate giants face climate responsibility perfect storm
OPINION | Dr Sachiko Suzuki, Asia Climate and Energy Analyst at Market Forces Dr Suzuki is a sustainable finance expert and has previously worked for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), posted in South East Asia. Companies in Asia have been getting away...
Global investors want more climate action from Japan’s megabanks
OPINION | Will van de Pol, CEO at Market Forces Japan's big banks have a big problem. Like climate change, it will get much worse unless it is addressed quickly. The megabanks are lagging behind when it comes to playing their part in the critical transition to clean...
Days of reckoning on the future of gas
OPINION | Axel Dalman, Head of Research at Market Forces The oil and gas industry had a critical opportunity at this week’s Australian Energy Producers conference, held in Perth, to exchange ideas on how to meet the existential threat posed to their business by the...