2021 vs 2022 – Are banks doing enough to reduce their carbon footprint?

A proposed SEC rule would force publicly traded corporations, including banks, to report their exposure to climate change. This is one example of how climate change continues to impact the banking sector.

In the US, Bank of America has launched its Approach to Zero initiative and JP Morgan & Chase has committed $2.5 trillion to climate change. Other banks, like HSBC, have committed to becoming net zero operations by 2030.

But are consumers around the world convinced that banks are doing their bit?

In all but two markets, the proportion of consumers who believe that banks are not doing enough has increased since last year. On the flipside, there has also been a slight decline in the proportion of consumers who say banks are doing enough, according to year-over-year trended data from a YouGov global poll that was conducted in 17 markets in 2021 and 18 in 2022. Overall, this figure has fallen from 14% in 2021 to 12% in 2022.

According to the survey, fewer global consumers say banks are ‘doing a fair amount but could do more’ (29% in 2021 vs. 26% in 2022).

Consumers in the UAE are substantially more inclined than worldwide average to say that banks are acting responsibly when it comes to the environment, the highest of all the markets surveyed. But there has also been a marginal rise in the percentage of customers who say they are "not doing enough" in 2022 (20% vs. 23%).

Over the past year, the percentage of Indonesian consumers who say banks are doing enough to lessen their influence on the environment has fallen by five points (28% in 2021 versus 23% in 2022). The sentiment in other Asian countries - including Hong Kong (11% in 2021 and 2022), Singapore (12% in 2021 and 2022), and India (27% in 2021 and 28% in 2022) - has remained mostly constant. However, in China the percentage of people who believe banks are not doing enough has increased from around a quarter in 2021 (29%) to nearly a third in 2022 (36%).

Consumer opinion in Britain that banks are “doing enough” has not changed over the year (7% in 2021 and 2022). But the proportion of Britons who say banks are doing a decent job but have room for improvement has decreased over the previous year (19% in 2021 vs. 16% in 2022).

One of the biggest shifts in consumer attitude is seen in Italy. Since the previous year, the percentage of Italians who say banks are not doing enough has gone from 36% (‘21) to 50% (‘22). As for those who say banks are doing a fair amount but need to do more, the share has gone down by 12 percentage points.

Consumer’s opinion that banks are not doing enough increased by six percentage points in the US (23% in 2021 vs. 29% in 2022). Two in five urban Mexicans (38% in 2021 and 40% in 2022) have similar views.

According to our analysis and data, consumers do not perceive banks as taking sufficient steps to reduce their impact on the environment. As for many sectors we polled on, banking has work to do to convince consumers that it’s pulling its weight when it comes to climate change.

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2022 Methodology: YouGov RealTime Omnibus provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The latest data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 515 and 2,082 for each market. All interviews were conducted online in July 2022. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov RealTime Omnibus.

2021 Methodology: YouGov RealTime Omnibus provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 585 to 2,018 for each market. All interviews were conducted online in July 2021. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov RealTime Omnibus.