Deutsche Bank given legal advice warning its investments in Adani and Whitehaven Coal could breach its own climate policies.

Market Forces has sent legal advice from German law firm Rechtsanwalte Gunther to Deutsche Bank, and the bank’s largest 50 shareholders, that concludes offering additional finance to either Whitehaven or Adani exposes it to legal challenges from multiple angles.

As a lender to Whitehaven Coal and Adani Enterprises, both companies investing heavily in expanding thermal coal mining, Deutsche Bank has been a financial institution of concern for some time. However the bank’s 2020 policy on thermal coal mining, stating “we will not provide any financing for greenfield thermal coal mining” (clarified as both direct and indirect financing) indicated that its involvement with these two companies was coming to an end. Disappointingly, at the time of publication, Deutsche Bank continues to be a financier of Whitehaven Coal and Adani Enterprises, even as these companies show no sign of slowing down their coal mining expansions.

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