News: CBA Australia court gives CBA investor confidential records to test greenwashing concerns

An Australian court has given a Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) shareholder access to confidential documents in order to check whether the country's No.1 bank complied with its own climate change policy in lending to oil and gas projects.

The Federal court on Thursday published an order granting the Guy & Kim Abrahams Family Trust authorisation to inspect some of the bank's internal documentation on seven oil and gas projects.

It is the first time an Australian court has granted access to internal documentation to scrutinise a company's compliance with its net-zero climate change policy, said the Abrahams' lawyer David Barnden.

It comes amid growing concerns about "greenwashing", where companies giving a flattering picture of their climate policies and business practices in order to boost their appeal to ethical investors.

"The orders enable our clients to inspect internal bank documents so they can come to a view on whether the bank was involved in greenwashing or have sufficient internal systems to ensure their policies are complied with," said Barnden.

A Commonwealth Bank spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.

The Abrahams' concerns stem from the bank's financing of the seven projects despite committing in 2019 to only providing funds for new oil gas or metallurgical coal projects if they were in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

The investor will get CBA records on projects including the Permian Highway natural gas pipeline in the United States, Euronav NV EUAV.BR crude carriers and Santos' (STO) acquisition of the Barossa Gas Field.

The Abrahams will get access to "all documents created by (CBA) in order to carry out an assessment of the environmental, social and economic impacts of the projects... (and) documents created... in order to carry out an assessment of whether the projects are in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement," the document says.

The orders also grant access to board and executive leadership records documenting CBA's change in its oil and gas policies this year, which drop its previously all-encompassing restrictions on lending to the sector unless the projects align with the Paris Agreement.