Banks may promise to be better stewards of the planet through emissions reductions and other activities, but their money keeps the oil pumping for now.
Some 60 of the world’s largest commercial and investment banks have invested $ 3.8 trillion in fossil fuels from 2016 to 2020, the five years after signing the voluntary Paris Agreement. The goal of the multinational pact is to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and to a better level to 1.5 degrees, compared to pre-industrial levels. In addition to oil financing, global coal projects are still being funded.
That’s according to a report called Banking on Climate Chaos 2021 published Wednesday from a small number of climate groups, including the Rainforest Action Network. The agency’s review of the financial sector has been carried out annually for over ten years.
It was the three banks that made the largest fossil fuel financing in 2020, according to the report, JPMorgan Chase JPM,
at $ 51.3 billion; Citi C,
at $ 48.4 billion; and BAC Bank of America,
with $ 42.1 billion. JPMorgan’s fossil fuel financing from the Paris declaration has reached $ 317 billion, to lead all banks, according to the report. Wells Fargo & Co.’sWFC funding in the fossil fuel space fell 42% to $ 26.4 billion in 2020.
Read: Goldman Sachs has pressed whether its oil financing is in line with its net zero emissions target
French Bank BNP Paribas BNP,
It has been shown to increase its borrowing for oil, gas and equivalent interests by 41% in 2020 from the previous year. His clients include BP MPs,
TOTAL total,
and Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A,
who have pledged to cut their reliance on fossil fuels and invest more in renewable energy-related industries.
Each year, total fossil fuel financing among banks in the report fell 9% in 2020, albeit largely due to the closure of COVID-19.
Read: Global investors with $ 54 trillion tell companies promising zero net emissions to showcase their operations
“This report is a real analysis for banks that believe that vague ‘net-zero’ targets are enough to halt the climate crisis,” said Lorne Stockman, senior research analyst at Change International. “Our future goes where money flows, and by 2020 these banks have plowed billions to lock us into another climate disorder.”
Bank of America joined earlier this year with other major banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley MS,
who have pledged to achieve zero-zero greenhouse gas emissions through their funding by 2050. Bank of America, as part of an organization working to align a carbon accounting statement, then said that promise to publish their funded distributions by 2023.
Val Smith, Citi’s chief sustainability officer, said in a blog post this week that the lender will work with existing fossil fuel banking messengers to move first to a public statement on greenhouse gas emissions and about eventually to a gradual decline from funding offered to companies that do not adhere to carbon reduction standards.
Banks still advise other companies on moving away from dependence on fossil fuels. The economic impact of climate change could reach $ 69 trillion this century, and investments in energy transition need to rise to $ 4 trillion a year, the head of global thematic investment study Bank of America said in a report earlier this year .
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