United States: A global team of experts is challenging the term “obesity,” calling it medically flawed. They suggest splitting the definition into two categories: “clinical obesity” for those with weight-related health issues and “pre-clinically obese” for those who are overweight but still fit, though at risk of disease. This new approach could be a better way to assess health than relying solely on the body mass index (BMI).
As reported by the BBC, you could be forgiven for thinking that may sound like a typical “green” loan. But these “sustainability-linked loans,” or SLLs, have considerably less of the same. Businesses don’t need to spend the money towards their sustainability goals, and the firms themselves or the banks don’t need to declare the actual rate of interest, sustainability goals or failure charges.
Over the last several years, banks provided more than USD 286 billion in these SLLs to hundreds of firms in sectors harming the environment, like fossil fuels, mining, and other companies with links to deforestation, as The Examination, Toronto Star and Mississippi Today investigation revealed.
From the data analysis of the LSE Group from 2018 to 2023 that was conducted by the team they found that it was nearly 1 out of every 20 dollars from all SLLs.
All this was investigated in collaboration with The Examination, Mississippi Today and Toronto Star. Reporting for this piece was done with the help of the Pulitzer Center for Rainforest Investigations.
As climate change escalates with carbon emissions and global temperatures setting record high last year, there is an emphasis more on the biggest polluters to green up their act. But rather, these loans are used by firms and banks to greenwash without decreasing the negative effects on the environment.
At times, the loans have gone to companies that were busy increasing pollution activity, according to the investigation.
“They do not lead to measurable change,” said Richard Brooks, climate finance director for the environmental nonprofit Stand. Earth. “And they’re really meant to greenwash your finances mostly, for expansion activities.”
Within a year of receiving an SLL, Canada based Enbridge extended more pipeline that brings in tar sands oil from Alberta to the United States to a pipeline which is believed to contribute equivalent of 50 new coal fired power Plant.
