About half of all Australians would be likely to switch banks if they found out their bank was lending money to projects that contribute to climate change, according to polling commissioned by the financial activist group Market Forces.

The findings came as more than 100 prominent Australian individuals and organisations signed a letter demanding that the big four banks stop supporting projects that expand the fossil fuel industry. Among the signatories are JM Coetzee, Charlotte Wood, James Bradley, Missy Higgins, Peter Singer and Jack Mundey, as well as unions, religious orders and conservation groups.

Asked how important it was that their bank invest in companies and projects that don’t harm the environment and contribute to climate change, 74% of the poll’s respondents who were with the big four banks said it was at least “somewhat important”, according to the Essential Research poll of 1,017 people.

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Forty-eight per cent of respondents said they would be more likely to switch banks if they learned their bank was lending to projects that harmed the environment or contributed to climate change.

When the researchers drilled down into specific types of projects, respondents appeared very concerned. Forty-seven per cent said they were likely to switch banks if they found out their bank was lending to coal and gas export projects in the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area. And 48% said they were likely to switch if they found out theirs was lending to coal seam gas projects near agricultural communities.

Respondents also overwhelmingly supported the big four banks’ decisions to support the goal to limit warming to “well below” 2C. But 65% of people agreed that given their support of that goal, the banks should no longer lend to projects that expand the fossil fuel industry.

In August Market Forces conducted research that found the big four banks had lent $5.6bn to fossil fuel projects and companies since they expressed support for the target.

In the open letter, released at the same time as the poll findings, the signatoreis outline a number of actions that the banks must commit to in light of their support for the Paris agreement goal.

“As you acknowledged late last year, the financial sector has an important role to play in holding global warming to below two degrees,” they write. “However, we are concerned that you are not fulfilling this role, having failed to deliver policy and practical responses in line with the goal.”

They demand banks stop lending to projects that expand existing fossil fuel projects’ footprints or lifetimes and stop lending to companies that seek to expand the fossil fuel industry.



They also call on banks to reduce their exposure to coal for power generation by 2020 and the rest of the fossil fuel sector by 2030, while scaling up renewable energy lending to at least $20bn by 2020.

The signatories call that “a minimum level of action that would demonstrate you are serious about your intentions to support the two-degree global warming limit”.

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“It is on these actions that we will continue to judge and assess your credibility on climate change and we will have no hesitation in reporting to your customers and the wider public any failure to meet these minimum standards of action,” they say. “You play too important a role and this is too important an issue for us to allow for anything less.”

The executive director of Market Forces, Julien Vincent, said the polling showed customers were aware the banks’ actions didn’t match their rhetoric.

“These results show that Australians, especially customers of the major banks, endorse their banks taking serious action to avoid projects,” he said. “We’re not just supporting it, we’re demanding it and will campaign until we get it.”