Wednesday newspaper round-up: Robinhood, online sales tax, fossil fuel companies

The world’s biggest 60 banks have provided $3.8tn of financing for fossil fuel companies since the Paris climate deal in 2015, according to a report by a coalition of NGOs. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic cutting energy use, overall funding remains on an upward trend and the finance provided in 2020 was higher than in 2016 or 2017, a fact the report’s authors and others described as “shocking”. - Guardian

More than 11,000 outlets permanently disappeared from high streets, shopping centres and retail parks in Great Britain last year, with independent retailers and villages faring far better than chain stores and city centres. A net total of 9,877 chain outlets and 1,442 independent retail, restaurant and leisure premises closed their doors in England, Wales and Scotland in 2020, according to the Local Data Company (LDC). The analysis covered 680,000 outlets in 3,000 shopping locations. - Guardian

Robinhood, the stock trading app that has soared in popularity during the pandemic and recent GameStop frenzy, has filed to go public in the US. The company confirmed it had confidentially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an upcoming initial public offering, saying the price of its shares was yet to be determined. - Telegraph

Three of Britain’s biggest wholesale food markets are set to move to a riverside site in Dagenham after the City of London Corporation received planning approval to relocate them. Billingsgate, Smithfield and New Spitalfields markets are poised to merge after Barking and Dagenham’s planning committee approved plans for a new site formerly occupied by Barking power station in east London. - The Times

The government has been urged to extend the scope of its proposed online sales tax from internet retailers to any online sales that might have been made on the high street, including travel, accommodation and software. Several submissions to the Treasury’s business rates review have argued for a broader definition. While roughly £100 billion a year is spent with internet retailers, the value of all online sales excluding financial services is £700 billion, the Treasury said. - The Times