https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-28/why-finance-is-fleeing-fossil-fuels/11903928The future of coal has already been decided in boardrooms around the globe.Early last month, as fire swept across large parts of the east coast and South Australia but before the Christmas conflagration, secret internal documents detailing ANZ's rapid retreat from coal hit the news.
Contrary to its public statements before Parliament just a few weeks before, the bank had formulated a plan to shed more than $700 million in thermal coal loans within the next four years: a 75 per cent reduction.
This was a major shift for ANZ, the country's biggest lender to the coal industry, and one that would bring it into line with the Commonwealth Bank and the National Australia Bank.
A few weeks later, investment bank Goldman Sachs, in one of the strongest positions from any American financier, ruled out future thermal coal financing, either for new mines or power stations globally.
Then, a fortnight ago, the world's biggest investment house Blackrock, announced it was drastically reducing its exposure to thermal coal.
