The student joined 350.org and School Strike 4 Climate following natural disasters in 2020 and 2021. He was accompanied by Shaun Murray, a fellow climate activist who disrupted Westpac’s 200th birthday dinner in 2017 by chaining himself to the ceiling.

350.org has called on banks to stop funding fossil fuel expansion.

“I started getting really worried about climate change when my family holiday house in the Blue Mountains almost burnt down.

‘Patronising’ response

“Then in April last year, when I was on a holiday with my family in WA, we got caught in the middle of Cyclone Seroja.

“Tragically, a man was electrocuted and died just a few metres away from me. It was a terrifying experience that I’ll never forget.”

Christopher, who was handed a microphone by the Financial Review, asked Mr McEwan: “I want to understand why you refuse to stop funding fossil fuels.”

Mr McEwan directed Christopher to the bank’s policy on coal, oil and gas.

“It actually does give our very clear position about our stance on it and what we’re doing. And I’d be interested in your commentary after you’ve had a good look at that,” the NAB chief said.

‘We are coming to take them on’

Christopher, who attended the Summit as a delegate from 350.org, said he found Mr McEwan’s response “patronising”, given he had read the bank’s policy “very thoroughly”. He said he considered all the big banks to be culpable regarding funding fossil fuel projects.

“It’s just ridiculous how these bank CEOs think they can talk down to young people, and how they think that we are insignificant and that we’re not strong. But we are coming to take them on.

“They’re prioritising lining their own pockets over saving the lives of human beings, and I think that’s just evil.”

Christopher also questioned CBA chief executive Matt Comyn on the bank’s approach to fossil fuel funding, saying he was tired of “greenwashing”.

“The simplest explanation is we’ve committed not only to [the Paris] Agreement but also to limiting temperature increases to 1.5 degrees. In terms of our exposure to fossil fuels, they’re less than 2 per cent of our balance sheet,” Mr Comyn responded.

He said the bank was committed to the energy transition and shared Christopher’s concern.

ANZ, Westpac and NAB came under fire in January after agreeing to help fund Woodside’s Pluto LNG processing facility in Western Australia, which was described as a “carbon bomb” at the time.

ANZ also confirmed in November last year that it would continue lending to oil and gas companies, and CEO Shayne Elliott said the bank’s decision to fund new resources projects should be considered as part of a broader movement to cut emissions.

According to 350.org, none of the big banks are acting in line with the International Energy Agency’s net zero pathway on oil and gas. As of 2021, NAB was the only bank to have a partial policy agreeing to end project financing for the development of new fossil fuel reserves not approved for development.

In the following address, Wayne Byres, chairman of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, said that only half the banks were analysing emissions on their lending portfolios, which posed challenges for Australia’s path to net zero emissions.

Questioned about how banks should approach oil and gas projects, Mr Byres said it was important that they continued to finance “brown” companies that were making the transition to becoming green.

“There are brown companies today that you would like to be green companies in the future. But for them to get from brown to green, they’re going to need to finance the transition and finance the investment,” Mr Byres said.

“It is really important that the financial system and the banking system is able to finance that transition.”