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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/13/banks-almost-7tn-fossil-fuel-firms-paris-deal-report>
"The world’s big banks have handed nearly $7tn (£5.6tn) in funding to the
fossil fuel industry since the Paris agreement to limit carbon emissions,
according to research.
In 2016, after talks in Paris, 196 countries signed an agreement to limit
global heating as a result of carbon emissions to at most 2C above
preindustrial levels, with an ideal limit of 1.5C to prevent the worst impacts
of a drastically changed climate.
Many countries have since promised to reduce carbon emissions, but the latest
research shows private interests continued to funnel money to oil, gas and coal
companies, which have used it to expand their operations.
Eight in 10 of the world’s most eminent climate scientists now foresee at least
2.5C of global heating, according to the results of a Guardian survey published
last week – an outcome expected to lead to devastating consequences for
civilisation.
Researchers for the banking on climate chaos report, now in its 15th edition,
analysed the world’s top 60 banks’ underwriting and lending to more than 4,200
fossil fuel firms and companies causing the degradation of the Amazon and
Arctic.
Those banks, they found, gave $6.9tn in financing to oil, coal and gas
companies, nearly half of which – $3.3tn – went towards fossil fuel expansion.
Even in 2023, two years after many large banks vowed to work towards lowering
emissions as part of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, bank finance for fossil
fuel companies was $705bn, with $347bn going towards expansion, the report
says.
US banks were the biggest financiers of the fossil fuel industry, contributing
30% of the total $705bn provided in 2023, the report found. JP Morgan Chase
gave the most of any bank in the world, providing $40.8bn to fossil fuel
companies in 2023, while Bank of America came in third. The world’s second
biggest financier of fossil fuels was the Japanese bank Mizuho, which provided
$37.1bn.
London-based Barclays was Europe’s biggest fossil fuel financier, with $24.2bn,
followed by Spain’s Santander at $14.5bn and Germany’s Deutsche Bank with
$13.4bn. Overall, European banks stumped up just over a quarter of the total
fossil fuel financing in 2023, according to the report."
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
