Adding fuel to the fire: big banks continue financing oil and gas despite environmental commitments, NGOs denounce

Around 550 companies, with assets worth US$150 trillion, currently make up the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Carbon Neutrality (Gfanz). This, in turn, is articulated in 7 sectoral alliances, such as banks, insurance and asset management.

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“Between the date each bank joined the alliance and August 2022, the top 56 members of the banking alliance for the carbon neutrality [Net-Zero Banking Alliance, NZBA] contributed $269 billion in loans, bonds or shares to 102 major developers fossil fuels“, highlighted in their study the NGOs Reclaim Finance, 350.org, BankTrack, Rainforest Action Network, Recommon, Urgewald, Les Amis de la Terre, Sierra Club and Stand Earth.

🚨 NEW REPORT: since joining the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero #GFANZ, financial institutions have provided HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of $ to fossil fuel expansion 💣

It's the finding of a report published today by 13 NGOs including Reclaim Finance.#GFANZFuelsFire # wef23 pic.twitter.com/iYWzgEPEeI
— Reclaim Finance (@ReclaimFinance) January 17, 2023

Leading the way is the North American bank Citigroup, with US$30,5 billion in financing in this regard, followed by Bank of America (US$22,8 billion) and the Japanese MUFG (US$22,7 billion).

On the asset management side, the alliance's top 58 members held at least $847 billion in stocks and bonds from 201 developers. fossil energy, said the studysystem. (🇬🇧)

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“It is clear that a lot of work needs to be done for the world to invest capital in line with the +1,5°C trajectory”, the ceiling of the global warming by the end of the century established in the 2015 Paris Agreement, an alliance spokesperson told AFP.