Australian banks could be forced to count the emissions of residential mortgagees, car financing and other debtors in their official carbon footprint if proposed climate disclosure rules in the United States are formalised later this year.

Local banks have in recent years totally or partially excluded their “financed emissions” from their carbon targets, but that stance may be undermined by the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), which this week signalled that such emissions should be counted in lenders’ scope 3 targets.