Lloyds Banking Group has ramped up its climate and environmental goals, today announcing a flurry of fresh pledges covering its waste, water use, nature impacts, and direct carbon emissions.
The financial firm’s new targets include becoming ‘zero waste’ and ‘water neutral’ by 2030, in addition to fresh ambition to bring “nature closer to our people and places” as part of its efforts to address climate change, resource scarcity, and biodiversity loss.
Moreover, Lloyds’ said it has set a new goal to reduce its direct carbon emissions by 90 per cent before the end of the decade versus a 2018/19 baseline, superceding its previous goal of a 75 per cent reduction by the same date.
By 2030, the company – which includes brands such as Lloyds Bank, Scottish Widows, Bank of Scotland and Halifax within its stable – said it would also aim to divert a minimum of 90 per cent of operational and technology waste from landfill and incineration, in line with the Zero Waste International Alliance’s definition of what constitutes a zero-waste business.
Lloyds said it would aim to reach water-neutrality by 2030 across its operations by improving water efficiency in all its UK buildings, investing in water technology solutions, and supporting projects in the community to offset residual water consumption.
It also said it aimed to engage in initiatives to promote biodiversity across its operations – such as delivering smaller habitats on rooftops, balconies and patios using UK native and pollinator-friendly plants – in support of its pledge to halt and reverse nature loss across its green spaces.
David Blott, future ways of working director at Lloyds, said delivering on the firm’s climate, nature, and biodiversity commitments would prove both challenging and rewarding.
“Our initial focus is laying the groundwork for their successful implementation,” he said. “These new environmental pledges, alongside our long-term ambition to reach net zero carbon operations by 2030 demonstrates our commitment to creating a more sustainable and responsible future for all.”
Further details on the Group’s green commitments and progress are set to be unveiled in its annual sustainability report, which is set for publication in February next year, it said.
The announcement comes as Lloyds and a number of UK high street banks continue to face scrutiny over their investment strategies, particularly with regards to supporting fossil fuel expansion, with campaign group Make My Money Matter earlier this year urging customers to switch provider if they discover their bank is funding new oil, gas, and coal projects.
According to a separate study by Rainforest Action Network earlier this year, HSBC, Barclays, Santander, NatWest, and Lloyds collectively invested around $368bn in the fossil fuel industry between 2016 and 2021. During this period the banks financed the 50 largest oil and gas expanders globally to the tune of $141bn, the environmental group claimed.
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