Al Gore, the former US vice president turned climate crusader, says Big Oil and the banks backing it still have huge financial incentives to stick with fossil fuels, even though their decision to do so is the leading cause of the climate crisis.

Bankers “are profiting hugely” from their role as lenders and advisers to fossil fuel companies, Gore said in an interview ahead of Climate Week, the annual gathering in New York of business and government leaders that occurs in conjunction with the UN General Assembly. Just as it’s “a bit unrealistic to expect fossil fuel companies to solve this crisis for us when they’re incentivized to do otherwise,” the business case for banks is the same, he said.

But the climate crisis is “a fossil fuel crisis” and that means the world needs to find a way to slash greenhouse gas emissions without assuming the oil industry will help, Gore said. 

Read more: bnnbloomberg.ca

Photo: bnnbloomberg.ca