THE top banks across Europe must do more to tackle the climate crisis, cut emissions and safeguards the world’s vital natural systems, campaigners in Britain warned today.

Crucial gaps remain in the 25 major European banks’ approaches to climate change and nature loss, a report by ShareAction found.

All companies have committed to become net zero by 2050, but the analysis by the charity suggests that they are not doing enough to avert the climate crisis.

It warned that very few banks are addressing the nature crisis, with targets for protecting and restoring biodiversity almost non-existent and limited integration of the issue in policies.

There is also a lack of clarity over the scale of finance for the shift to a low-carbon world, raising concerns over greenwashing, while a lack of transparency is leading to under-reporting of banks’ support for high-carbon sectors.

ShareAction director of financial sector standards Peter Uhlenbruch said that the charity has written to the chief executives of each of the banks with a set of tailored recommendations about how they can close loopholes in their climate and biodiversity strategies.

“Without robust decarbonisation targets underpinned by credible fossil fuel policies, these banks cannot fulfil their commitments to align their businesses with net-zero and prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis,” he said.

“The banks are paying far too little attention to the threat of biodiversity loss.

“Bank executives and their boards need to step up and take responsibility for the impact their activities are having on the ecosystems of the world’s oceans, forests and wildlife.”