One of Australia's biggest banks won't lend money to a coal-heavy NSW port in a bid to manage climate risk.
The Port of Newcastle is refinancing as it gears up for its 2040 master plan, which aims to diversify from its reliance on coal.
Investment group the Infrastructure Fund and China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited both own 50 per cent of the port as shareholders.
In response to ANZ's move the Port of Newcastle insisted sustainability was at the core of its business strategy and culture.
"We are working with responsible lenders who are interested in helping businesses like PON become more sustainable and diversify," it said in a statement.
"This is crucial to a business that supports our local, regional and national economies."
ANZ would not be drawn on specifics.
"ANZ does not publicly discuss specific details of its customers," a spokesman for the bank said in a statement.
"Last year we released an updated climate change statement that outlined how we will support our customers transition to net zero emissions by 2050, including engaging with our largest emitting business customers on their low carbon transition plans."
The bank's chief executive Shayne Elliott last year said ANZ could cut ties with customers if they weren't taking climate change seriously.
"That to us is a massive red flag in terms of their own risk awareness and their own risk management framework," he told a briefing in September last year.
"While it wouldn't be black and white to say ... we'll exit them, there would be a huge red flag that we would have to sit down, at a relationship level, and say is this the kind of customer that we really want to bank for the long term.
"If we really don't see an alignment of values, we would move to exit that customer over time."
The port is operating at 50 per cent capacity, with 20 berths in use by various companies.
The port's 2040 master plan includes proposals for new container, bulk and cruise terminals.
It also points to the continuation and growth of major trade goods including coal, fuel, fertiliser, wheat and mineral concentrates.
The master plan mentions climate change in terms of the risk it poses to the port from sea level rise and wild weather.
"Loss of channel depth equates to a loss of trade, and there is a need for statutory certainty in terms of ongoing maintenance dredging and sea dumping," the plan says.
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