Banking on becoming carbon neutral

While this certainly is impressive, the small print has yet to be scrutinised as to how the bank's Green Lending Climate Action Fund will be rolled out. 

Last November saw AIB further commit to treble that fund to €30bn, through various leveraging mechanisms, as it intends to take further actions to support the transition to a low-carbon economy by increasing its green lending portfolio. This was announced at the bank’s sustainability conference titled, ‘It’s Time to Act’.

In February, AIB appointed Paul Travers as managing director of its new climate capital unit. Paul is responsible for expanding green lending activities, focusing on renewable-energy companies and critical infrastructure projects across Ireland, the UK, Europe and North America. 

AIB is supporting Farm Zero, by collaborating with Carbery and BiOrbic, Ireland’s national bioeconomy research centre, to create a climate-neutral, economically viable dairy farm that has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the agricultural sector through novel farm practices and innovative technologies.
On a broader scale, we need a lot more information as to how AIB’s funding for carbon reduction will operate at business level. Farm finance for environmental improvements is expensive, but is capable of delivering sustainable returns. Providing minimum-margin funding must be a central aspect of AIB’s zero-carbon initiative. Otherwise, it will be accused of well-intentioned greenwashing. Agriculture is an obvious target for support from this climate action fund. 

AIB itself has a target to become carbon neutral in its operations by 2030, using a net-zero approach.