Al Rayan Bank
Your bank is failing on climate responsibility.
Al Rayan Bank is a subsidiary of Masraf Al Rayan, a Qatar-based bank that provides banking, financial and investment services across Qatar. Masraf Al Rayan does not disclose sufficient information on its lending activities and policies, so we have to assume that there is a high probability of it financing the fossil fuel sector.
Al Rayan Bank claims to have achieved "carbon neutrality" and that is "climate positive". This claim is dubious for two reasons:
It's quite likely that while you’ve been stashing away money for a house or a weekend get-away, Al Rayan Bank has been using your savings to lend to some very questionable fossil fuel friends.
Your bank may be ignoring the Paris Agreement.
The Paris Agreement set the goal to stay under 1.5°C of warming for very good reasons. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an increase of just a couple of degrees more could lead to "substantial species extinction, large risks to global and regional food security", and an inability to work outside — or even live — in some areas of the world. Our world will become unrecognizable as ocean dead zones, floods, and extreme weather fuel social and economic disruption.
Start to Bank Green Today
Banks live and die on their reputations. Mass movements of money to fossil-free competitors puts those reputations at grave risk. By moving your money to a sustainable financial institution, you will:
Send a message to your bank that it must defund fossil fuels
Join a fast-growing movement of consumers standing up for their future
Take a critical climate action with profound effects