NatWest Group has picked the World Bank’s former climate-change director, James Close, to help the bank half the carbon emissions caused by its financing activity by 2030.

Oliver Holbourn, the director of strategy and ventures at NatWest Group, said “our ambition is to be a leading bank in the UK and the Republic of Ireland helping to address the climate challenge and to at least halve the climate impact of our financing activity by 2030.”