Methodology – Finder’s green bank ratings

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

★★★★★ – Excellent

★★★★★ – Good

★★★★★ – Average

★★★★★ – Subpar

★★★★★ – Poor

How it works

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

• Position on fossil fuel financing (70% of overall score). We think the most important thing 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.

Position on fossil fuel financing
Position	Score
No financing activities in fossil fuels sector with financed emissions fully disclosed	10
No financing activities in fossil fuels sector with financed emissions not/partially disclosed	9
Some financing activities in fossil fuel sector and financed emissions fully disclosed	6
Possible 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	4
Significant financing activities in fossil fuel sector with financed emissions not/partially disclosed	3

• Operational emissions (15% 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 2.25 and 3.0 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	8
Between 3.0 and 3.75 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	7
Between 3.72 and 4.25 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	6
Between 4.25 and 5.0 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	5
Between 5.0 and 5.75 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	4
Between 6.25 and 7.0 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	3
More than 7.0 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	2

• Net zero targets (15% of overall score). We also assessed the future ambition of each bank when it comes to sustainability by looking at their net zero targets. The UN defines “net zero” to mean “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.

Net zero 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
Between 3.72 and 4.25 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	6
Between 4.25 and 5.0 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	5
Between 5.0 and 5.75 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	4
Between 6.25 and 7.0 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	3
More than 7.0 tonnes scope 1 & 2 CO2e emissions per £1m of revenue	2