Amsterdam, 14 February - Today Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) received ING’s official answer to the climate court case that Milieudefensie announced 4 weeks ago.The response of the bank is falling seriously short.
ING is the banker of the climate crisis. That is why Milieudefensie demands that ING halves its emissions in 2030 and stops collaborating with polluting companies that put our future at risk. Milieudefensie gave ING 8 weeks to comply with our demands or else we will take ING to court.
ING’s response is disappointing. ING speaks many green words, but ignores the demands of Milieudefensie. The banks seems to assume we will just take their green words and promises of concrete steps at face value. ING has 4 more weeks to formulate policies that take the danger of climate change seriously. Below we will explain ING’s response and why this is falling short.
ING is responsible for 61 megaton greenhouse gases. That is similar to a country like Sweden. Last year ING’s emissions even increased! [1] Nevertheless, ING does not have targets that guarantee that ING’s emissions will reduce.
ING believes that it does not have to halve its total volume of emissions. According to them, this is something the world should aim for, but not ING.
But international climate agreements clearly state that rich Western countries should take the lead in fighting climate change. ING — a rich company in a rich country with gigantic emissions — currently ignores this completely. ING puts the burden of climate change on people in the global South and future generations.
ING says they are already putting effort into checking whether polluting companies have plans to become more sustainable. They are already talking with their clients.
But as long as ING does not combine this talking with setting concrete time lines, targets and end goals, it will stay just that: an open-ended chat over a cup of tea.
That is why Milieudefensie demands that ING requires good climate plans from all polluting companies that ING finances. If a company does not have a credible plan in which they show that they will reduce their emissions in a fair way, then ING should not finance that company
Last year ING announced a new oil and gas policy. ING fully accepted that there is no space for new oil and gas projects if we want to keep the warming of the earth below 1,5 degree Celsius. But instead of stopping with financing compan ies that still expand their projects, ING merely took a small baby step: ING stopped with a very specific kind of financing for companies that start new oil and gas projects (so called ‘project financing’). But ING continues the fast majority of financing for these companies (for example general corporate loans, issuance of bonds, and assets under management).
Milieudefensie discussed this with ING. We explained to ING how these policies turn a blind eye to the real problem. ING continues to finance companies that put our future at risk. This was the answer of ING’s CEO Steven van Rijswijk to our lead researcher Nicky van Dijk: “you’re annoying but you’re right”.
Nevertheless, ING did not take action. Currently, ING has 15 billion euros in outstanding loans to oil and gas companies [2]. These are mostly companies that are linked to oil and gas expansion. ING says our world still needs oil and gas, but this argument is i rrelevant. When ING gives out a loan to an oil or gas company today, this company will continue to expand oil and gas projects that will continue to emit for decades. ING does not finance today’s economy, but tomorrow’s economy.
The last 10 years ING made billions of profits each year. Last year, ING booked their highest profit ever: 7,3 billion euro [3].
Relevant information
[1] ING, Climate Report 2023 (October 2023), p85
[2] ING, ‘ING Results Presentation 2023 Q1’ (2023), p21
[3] ING, ‘Q4 FY2023 press release’ (2024)
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