Macquarie Group’s oil and gas investments are at odds with its commitments under the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has claimed. NZBA commits members to aligning the emissions from its lending and investment portfolio with the goal of restricting global warming to below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. According to IEEFA, Macquarie Group has invested heavily in oil and gas companies, including a 5% stake in Beach Energy, A$15 million (U$10 million) in finance to Empire Energy to support the development of the Beetaloo Basin gas project and an undisclosed contribution to the issuance of a A$3 billion loan for US company Southwestern Energy, whose expansion plans would create more CO2 than Australia’s total emissions in 2021. “The investments identified in this report add up to about A$5 billion. A more comprehensive analysis of Macquarie Group’s exposure to upstream oil and gas companies through shares and bonds (excluding loans) found about A$7.7 billion of exposure,” IEEFA Australia CEO Amandine Denis-Ryan said.
🧵2/7 – After joining two net zero alliances, Macquarie Group issued loans to, and took major stakes in, oil and gas companies with aggressive expansion plans. pic.twitter.com/qafgISUIRM
— IEEFA_AsiaPacific (@IEEFA_AsiaPac) June 8, 2023
