Top banks continue funding fossil fuels despite green promises

Some of the world's top banks, including some French ones, continue to fund new oil and gas projects while being part of industry groups aimed at reaching carbon neutrality, NGOs have warned.

Activists from Extinction Rebellion occupy an oil tanker during a protest calling for an end to fossil fuels in London. © Reuters/Henry Nicholls

Nine NGOs found that many lenders in the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero are continuing to fund new oil projects, incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The Glasgow Alliance has emerged as the key climate alliance for finance industry firms committed to reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.

US lenders, French banks

At the top of the list of banks not meeting their own pledges and continuing to fund and invest in fossil fuel projects are two lenders based in the United States: Citigroup and Bank of America. In third place is Japan's MUFG.

French banks BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole are 15th, 16th and 17th respectively on the list, with six to seven billion dollars in funding.

⚠️Alerte #Greenwashing : derrière leurs promesses de neutralité carbone, les acteurs financiers alimentent le chaos climatique🔥

Nouveau rapport publié par 13 ONG, dont @ReclaimFinance et @amisdelaterre alors que le @wef_fr se tient à #Davos ⬇️#GFANZFuelsFire https://t.co/xPmPgBqsGP

— Les Amis de la Terre FR (@amisdelaterre) January 17, 2023

In their report published Tuesday, the climate groups point to asset managers who continue to hold stocks of oil and gas firms that are developing new projects.

They found the top 58 asset managers in the alliance held 847 billion dollars in shares and bonds of companies developing new fossil fuel projects.

"There is now broad agreement ... that there is no room in a 1.5-degree carbon budget for the carbon that would be brought into the atmosphere from new fossil fuel supply," said Paddy McCully, an author of the report and an analyst for Reclaim Finance.

Banks and asset managers are regularly scolded for financing the fossil fuel sector, but say they work to finance the energy transition.

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(with AFP)