Goldman Sachs has announced the strongest fossil-fuel finance restrictions of any major U.S. bank, a move conditionally embraced by advocacy groups such as the Sierra Club.
Goldman GS, +2.10% , with its Sunday announcement, becomes the first of the large U.S. banks to establish explicit restrictions on financing for any part of the oil-and-gas sector. The policy change stressed protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in particular. It is also the first major U.S. bank to rule out direct finance for thermal coal mines and plants worldwide, including a phase-out of financing for significant thermal coal mining companies that do not have a diversification strategy.
