Today, the British bank HSBC has bowed to investor pressure by ramping up its climate commitments and tabling a shareholder vote on plans to phase out coal financing by 2040. HSBC's vote will be binding if it gains the approval of 75% of shareholders. According to a recent Urgewald report, HSBC is one of the leading banks behind the global coal industry, having provided over $15 billion in loans and underwriting services to coal companies between Oct 2018 and Oct 2020.
The German energy utility RWE is suing the Netherlands for its mandatory coal phase-out by 2030, seeking €1.4 billion in compensation on the basis of the controversial Energy Charter Treaty. In December 2019, the Dutch state had issued a coal phase-out, which would force RWE to stop burning coal in its Eemshaven power plant by the end of the decade. The environmental and human rights organisations Urgewald and Reclaim Finance call on RWE to withdraw the lawsuit and are asking investors to divest RWE for its repeated anti-climate action lobbying efforts.