The Washington Post reported that JP Morgan Chase will stop lending to companies doing oil exploration or drilling above the Arctic Circle. That would include all companies that work in Alaska’s oil patch.
The decision is due to pressure from climate change organizations and because the bank leadership believes that the Arctic is particularly vulnerable to climate change.
The bank is also phasing out investment in coal, it announced Monday.
The move follows the lead of Goldman Sachs, which announced it will not lend to companies engaged in oil extraction in the Arctic.
An analyst at the investment firm Raymond James told the newspaper that loans to Arctic projects are rare, and the move has little practical value.
“Oil and gas activity in the Arctic is so slim anyway that lending for such activity is essentially meaningless,” analyst Pavel Molchanov told the newspaper.
Reuters reports that details of the oil-and-coal phase out plan will be rolled out on Tuesday at an investor conference along with a climate change initiative that sets up a $200 billion fund to finance sustainable projects.
