Bank chairs backtracking on climate commitments could face shareholder revolts
Bank chairs who water down their lenders’ climate commitments this year could face embarrassing shareholder revolts as campaigners try to hold bosses to account for environmental backtracking,ShareAction, a campaign group for responsible investment, will be issuing detailed reports to pension funds and asset managers in the coming weeks, outlining whether 34 of the world’s largest lenders are sticking to their climate goals,Its reports will closely analyse any changes in lenders’ environmental policies, which are usually published alongside their annual reports,The UK’s largest banks will be among the first under the microscope, with NatWest, Lloyds and HSBC all due to release their annual reports by the end of February,Barclays will publish its annual report on Tuesday.
ShareAction will call on institutional shareholders to vote against the re-election of any chair who they believe is overseeing a climate row-back.Those votes will take place at annual shareholder meetings, due to begin this spring.Kelly Shields, ShareAction’s senior campaign manager on its banking programme, said while this was unlikely to result in any boss being removed, it was a symbolic move that would send a personal message to directors.Shields is hoping to “slow down this trend of [climate] backtracking, and send a signal to the wider sector that backtracking comes with consequences”.“These directors are getting nodded through with 98-99% of the vote,” she said.
“Even a small amount knocked off of that can send quite a strong signal, and it does make it a bit more personal.That director hopefully feels responsible and feels emboldened to act, or at least engage with investors on the issue.”ShareAction’s campaign – which will involve rallying some new and existing supporters in the investment world – comes as banks and other financial firms come under fresh pressure over their green commitments since Donald Trump’s return to the White House last year.The Republican president’s anti-green agenda has emboldened rightwing climate deniers and fuelled a renewed push for oil and gas production, putting pressure on banks to ramp up financing for fossil fuel companies.It has notably led to a series of defections from the UN-backed net zero banking alliance (NZBA), which required members to ensure their policies would lead them to hit net zero emissions targets by 2050 or earlier.
The withdrawal of key NZBA members, including JP Morgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs as well as the UK lenders Barclays and HSBC, eventually led to the group’s demise in September.HSBC announced last year it was delaying important parts of its climate goals by 20 years and watering down environmental targets as part of a new long-term bonus plan for its chief executive, Georges Elhedery.“We really want banks to reassess this and do what’s needed to make sure that we’ve got long-term financial stability and are prioritising people and planet,” Shields said.
My cultural awakening: Bach helped me survive sexual abuse as a child
For pianist James Rhodes, the composer’s music expressed feelings that he could not put into words – and kept helping him as his mental health suffered in adulthoodWhen I found a cassette tape of the Bach-Busoni Chaconne, aged seven, it’s how I imagine a kid would feel seeing Messi play football and thinking: I have to do that with my life. By then, I had already been sexually abused by a teacher for two years, and despite showing all the signs of trauma – night terrors, twitching, wetting the bed, constant stomach aches – I obediently kept his secret. To me, the world was a war zone of pain. I was a shy, awkward, lonely kid, but alone in my bedroom with that piece of music, I found a little bit of light that was just for me. Hearing it for the first time was almost a religious experience
From Lord of the Flies to Deftones: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Adolescence writer Jack Thorne takes on the classic tale of deserted schoolboys, while the US band warm up for a pummelling summer of alt metal100 Nights of HeroOut nowMaika Monroe plays a woman shut up in a castle with her husband’s handsome and seductive best friend (Nicholas Galitzine) who has made a wager that he can tempt her to stray from her marriage. Sharp-witted maid Hero (Emma Corrin) clocks what’s going on and does her best to foil the dirtbag’s schemes, in this fairytale fantasy from Julia Jackman. Charli xcx also stars.My Father’s ShadowOut nowṢọpẹ́ Dìrísù (Slow Horses) stars in a semi-autobiographical debut from Akinola Davies Jr in which an estranged father travels through the city of Lagos in Nigeria with his two young sons during a day of violent unrest following the 1993 election crisis.HamletOut nowSomething is rotten in the state of England: Riz Ahmed plays Shakespeare’s famous Dane as a scion of a wealthy British South Asian family in Aneil Karia’s modern take on probably the most famous play of all time
Austin Butler to play Lance Armstrong in big-screen biopic
The Oscar-nominated actor Austin Butler is scheduled to take on the role of the disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong in a buzzy new biopic.According to Deadline, the package has caused a “frenzied” bidding war in Hollywood with the Conclave director Edward Berger at the helm and King Richard’s Zach Baylin set to write the script.Producer Scott Stuber, who recently worked on Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, has been working to secure Armstrong’s life rights for a while and a deal has now finally been agreed. Armstrong will be involved in the film but will not have a producing credit.The hope is for the film to be a cross between F1 and The Wolf of Wall Street
Stephen Colbert: ‘Trump would eat a bicycle tire if you put it on a bun’
On Thursday night, Stephen Colbert responded to White House adviser Paula White-Cain’s claims that Donald Trump is “the GOAT”, while Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers addressed ICE and Jeffrey Epstein.Over on the Late Show, Colbert turned his attention to Trump’s appearance at the national prayer breakfast and his speech at the Washington Hilton hotel. Or as Colbert called the president’s 77-minute address, “special material just for the prayer munchers”.Ahead of his remarks, Trump was introduced by White-Cain, the White House senior adviser who Colbert called a “haunted Bloomingdale’s mannequin”. White-Cain introduced the president as “the GOAT: the greatest of all time”
Aacta awards 2026: horror film Bring Her Back and Jacob Elordi win big at Australian film and TV prizes
Bring Her Back has dominated at the 2026 Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) awards, winning 10 of 16 nominations, while Jacob Elordi has continued his recent awards buzz by taking home best lead actor for his performance in The Narrow Road to the Deep North.Bring Her Back, Danny and Michael Philippou’s horror-thriller about a sinister foster mother, emerged as the most awarded film of the night with 10 wins. This marks a major milestone for the Adelaide brothers, surpassing the eight awards they won for their 2024 global breakout, Talk to Me.Bring Her Back won best direction, best film, best leading actress in a film for Sally Hawkins and almost every technical category, including cinematography, editing, original score, sound, costume design, hair and makeup, and casting.Fresh from his Critics’ Choice Movie awards win for his portrayal of the Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Elordi won best lead actor in a drama for his portrayal of army surgeon Dorrigo Evans in the screen adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker prize-winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Volcanic vulvas and hermaphrodite marble: Ovid’s Metamorphoses reshaped at the Rijksmuseum
Artists from Bernini to Louise Bourgeois are brought together in a new exhibition exploring the uncomfortable erotic parables of the ancient Roman poetOn three massive screens in a darkened room, snakes glide over the face of artist Juul Kraijer – covering her eyes, caressing her lips. She is the silent but terrifying snake-headed Medusa, and one of the surprises in an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam revolving around Greek and Roman myths.While the show features rarely lent works from masters such as Caravaggio, Bernini, Rodin and Brâncuși, it marries them with modern artists who reinterpret the legends where male gods do all they can to get their wicked way and the powerless are punished. Transgender bodies, bare breasts and even a volcanic vulva appear in artworks inspired by Roman poet Ovid’s masterpiece, Metamorphoses.Taco Dibbits, general director of the Rijksmuseum, believes the 200 myths and legends from this ancient epic poem still speak to our uncertain times
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