"The biggest funders of fossil fuel expansion are U.S. banks that, like those in other countries, are retreating on their climate commitments."
"The world’s biggest banks continue to bankroll the expansion of the fossil fuel industry and have largely retreated from their climate commitments, even as the world heads toward breaching thresholds for a livable planet.
A new report from a coalition of environmental and banking advocacy groups, published Tuesday, finds that the world’s 65 biggest banks committed $869 billion to fossil fuels companies in 2024 — a jump of $162 billion over 2023. A big chunk of that — $429 billion — went to companies that have specific plans to expand their development of fossil fuels.
The report looks in detail at the years since 2021, when scientists with the International Energy Agency (IEA) said fossil fuel expansion effectively had to stop in order to meet global climate targets.
“The [IEA] put out a very comprehensive study that looked at the energy roadmap for getting to net-zero emissions by 2050 globally,” said Allison Fajans-Turner, a researcher with the Rainforest Action Network and a co-author of the report. “One of the major findings was there was no room for any upstream, midstream or downstream fossil fuel infrastructure to be built, burned or combusted if we are serious about limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. Since then, unfortunately, we’ve seen banks put $1.6 trillion into fossil fuel expansion.”"
Georgina Gustin reports for Inside Climate News June 17, 2025.
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