Methodology – Finder’s green banking ratings

You’ll find our green banking ratings on some our banking pages. We assess the banks behind these products using a system of 1 to 5 stars.

★★★★★ – Excellent

★★★★★ – Good

★★★★★ – Average

★★★★★ – Subpar

★★★★★ – Poor

How it works

To create our green banking ratings, we scored each bank on 3 key areas:

• Position on fossil fuel financing (30% of overall score). We think a key aspect to consider when assessing the sustainability credentials of a bank is where your money could end up. It’s a little known fact that many of the world’s best known banks provide financing to significant contributors to the climate crisis like the fossil fuel industry. We assessed each bank’s position on financing fossil fuels and how well they report on financed emissions more broadly. Banks report on financed emissions in different ways, making it tricky to do exact comparisons. We hope banks will find a way to do more comparable reporting so consumers can make a more informed choice. Where we refer to PCAF, this is the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials, which is an industry body that harmonises reporting of emissions.

Position on fossil fuel financing
Position	Score
No financing acivities in fossil fuels sector with financed emissions fully disclosed according to PCAF	10
No financing acivities in fossil fuels sector with financed emissions committed according to PCAF	9
No financing acivities in fossil fuels sector with financed emissions not/partially disclosed	8
Some financing activities in fossil fuel sector and financed emissions fully disclosed or committed according to PCAF	6
Some financing activities in fossil fuel sector with financed emissions not/partially disclosed	5
Significant financing activities in fossil fuel sector and financed emissions fully disclosed or committed according to PCAF	4
Significant financing activities in fossil fuel sector with financed emissions not/partially disclosed	3
Very significant financing activities in fossil fuel sector and financed emissions fully disclosed or committed according to PCAF	2
Very significant financing activities in fossil fuel sector with financed emissions not/partially disclosed	1

• Operational emissions (35% of overall score). Greenhouse gas emissions are the best overall indicator of a company’s environmental impact and operational emissions are related to the day-to-day operations of the business. Think electricity used in the branches or the cars driven by the executives. For the sustainability experts among you, we assessed each bank based on absolute location-based Scope 1 & 2 emissions using revenue as a denominator to help us compare big and small banks fairly.

Operational emissions
Emissions revenue intensity	Score
Less than 1.5 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	10
Between 1.5 and 2.25 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	9
Between 2.26 and 3.0 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	8
Between 3.01 and 3.75 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	7
Between 3.76 and 4.25 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	6
Between 4.26 and 5.0 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	5
Between 5.01 and 5.75 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	4
Between 5.76 and 6.25 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	3
Between 6.26 and 7.0 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	2
More than 7.0 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	1

• Net zero targets (35% of overall score). We also assessed the future ambition of each bank when it comes to sustainability by looking at the net zero targets. The UN defines “net zero” as “cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests”. The earlier the bank is aiming to achieve net zero emissions the better it scored.

Emissions targets
Target	Score
Net zero by 2040 or earlier, SBTI approved near term target	10
Net zero by 2040 or earlier	9
Net zero by 2050. Net zero operations by 2030, SBTI approved near term target	8
Net zero by 2050. Net zero operations by 2030. Near term financed emissions target	7
Net zero by 2050. Net zero operations by 2030	6
Net zero by 2050. Near term target in place	5
Net zero by 2050	4
Net zero by later than 2050	3
No net zero target	2

Written by

Kate Steere

Editor

Kate Steere is an editor and money expert at Finder, specialising in banking, savings and fintech. She has previously written for The Motley Fool UK and Fitch Solutions, where she covered a wide range of personal finance topics and kept a close eye on market trends. Kate has a Bachelor of Arts in Modern History from the University of East Anglia. When not working, she can usually be found curled up with a good book or heading out for a run. See full bio

Kate's expertise

Kate has written 171 Finder guides across topics including:

• Banking
• Savings
• Fintech
• Credit
• Payments