Europe’s banks helped fossil fuel firms raise more than €1tn from global bond markets

Sun, 29 Oct 2023 20:31:12 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/26/europes-banks-helped-fossil-fuel-firms-raise-more-than-1tn-from-global-bond-markets>

"Banks including some of Europe’s largest lenders have helped fossil fuel
companies to raise more than €1tn (£869bn) from the global bond markets since
the Paris climate agreement, according to an investigation by the Guardian
and its reporting partners.

In the push to zero carbon, Europe’s biggest lenders face growing pressure to
limit their financial support for fossil fuel companies through direct loans
and other financing facilities.

But analysis of thousands of transactions since 2016, when more than 190
countries agreed at a UN summit in Paris to limit global warming by curbing
pollution, has revealed that lenders including Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Barclays
have continued to profit from the expansion of oil, gas and coal by supporting
the sale of fossil fuel bonds.

The findings have raised concerns among sustainable investment campaigners that
banks are continuing to offer “hidden” financial support to energy companies
that are responsible for increasing the world’s carbon emissions – even as they
pledge publicly to phase out direct lending for new projects.

The Guardian worked alongside other European newspapers and the Dutch
platforms Investico and Follow the Money to look in detail at 1,700 bond
issues recorded by the financial information provider Bloomberg."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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