Banks’ Vows to Restrict Loans for Arctic Oil and Gas Development May be Largely Symbolic

Some of the nation’s biggest banks have pledged that they won’t finance new oil and gas development in the Arctic—announcements celebrated by environmental groups that have long called for such action. But a close look reveals the pledges may not amount to much at all, mostly because the kind of loans the banks now vow to stop providing were rarely offered in the first place.