Commonwealth Bank chairman Catherine Livingstone has stared down environmental activists Market Forces, rejecting accusations the bank is not cutting fossil fuel-lending urgently enough and defending the need to keep funding oil and gas players committed to the transition to a cleaner economy.

As the government prepares a new climate change policy to placate the Nationals ahead of the Glasgow COP26 summit next month, Ms Livingstone told the bank’s annual general meeting it may restrict loans to high emitters based on new data from the International Energy Agency.