ING Group NV, a leading global lender to commodities trading, has announced its plans to cut the volumes of oil and gas deals it finances as part of its efforts to markedly reduce the company's carbon footprint.
The decision promises to raise standards for the bank industry, which has so far tended to limit restrictions on carbon-intensive financing to upstream lending. This move has the potential to transform the commodities trading sector, as traders rely heavily on bank funding to purchase and ship resources.
Anne-Sophie Castelnau, the Dutch lender's global head of sustainability, said in an interview that ING is “one of the first and in any case the largest player to set volume-based targets.”