Standard Chartered founding member of industry taskforce to accelerate decarboni

Standard Chartered Bank announces it is a founding member of a new global Aviation Climate-Aligned Finance (CAF) Working Group launched today[1] and facilitated by the RMI's Center for Climate-Aligned Finance[2].

The five other members forming the CAF Working Group are Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Citi, Crédit Agricole CIB and Société Générale, who are all international lenders to the aviation sector. This industry-first taskforce will come together to create an agreement before the end of 2022 that defines common standards of action for aviation sector decarbonisation. The signatories will forge the measurement methodologies, emissions benchmarks, data pathways and governance structure of the agreement in collaboration with existing decarbonisation initiatives. It is a commitment by participating financial institutions to annually disclose the degree to which the greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft, airlines and lessors they finance are in line with 1.5°C climate targets.

Kieran Corr, Global Head of Aviation Finance and CEO of Ireland, Standard Chartered, said: "Standard Chartered is committed to sustainable social and economic development through our business, operations and communities. We are delighted to be working with RMI as a founding member of the CAF Working Group, along with other aviation-lending banks, to lead the way and develop a robust framework for aviation's pathway to decarbonisation."

The launch comes at a time when the aviation industry currently accounts for 2.5% of the world's CO2 emissions[3]. While the sector has seen tremendous improvement in carbon emission intensity in recent times; the last 30 years have seen the industry halve CO2 emissions for every passenger journey[4], there needs to be drastic shifts in propulsion systems and aircraft design to allow for a long-term solution to the climate threat.

James Mitchell, Director at the Center for Climate-Aligned Finance, RMI, said "Our work across shipping, steel, and now aviation shows that collaboration is key to meeting climate commitments and to decarbonizing the hard-to-abate sectors. We commend the Working Group banks for taking this important step towards creating a global platform for accelerating the decarbonization of the aviation sector. The hard work begins now."

This announcement is another in the long line of Standard Chartered's public pledges to climate change. The Bank has committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions from its operations by 2030, and from its financing by 2050[5]. In May 2021, the Bank's Aviation Finance's business led the way with Etihad Airways in transitioning the aviation sector to net zero carbon by launching the world's first transition sukuk[6].