World's largest banks pledged $869bn to fossil fuel firms in 2024, new report finds
The world's largest banks boosted the amount of financing given to fossil fuel companies last year, committing $869bn to those involved in coal, oil and gas despite the worsening climate crisis and the banks' own, fraying, environmental commitments, a new report has found.
The report, compiled by a coalition of eight green groups, shows that while the amount loaned by big banks to fossil fuel firms had been declining in 2021, last year saw an abrupt reversal. Two-thirds of the world's largest 65 banks increased their fossil fuel financing by $162bn from 2023 to 2024.
Scientists have been clear that no new fossil fuel project can proceed if disastrous climate impacts are to be avoided, with last year the hottest ever recorded amid a slew of disasters driven by global heating.
However, many banks have recently watered down or ditched their own commitments to help reduce planet-heating emissions, amid a changing political dynamic that has seen the US again being led by Donald Trump, who has famously called climate science 'a giant hoax' and 'bullshit'. In February, the US treasury withdrew from a global banking network that aims to increase green finance and reduce climate risk.
Four of the five largest fossil fuel financiers last year were American companies, with JPMorgan Chase lending the most at $53.5bn. Bank of America was second, followed by Citigroup. The Japanese bank Mizuho Financial was fourth, with Wells Fargo in fifth. The largest absolute increases in fossil fuel lending last year came from the top American institutions as well as Barclays, the British bank.
In the decade since the world's political leaders committed, in the landmark Paris climate agreement, to restrain dangerous global heating, the biggest banks have continued to pour lending towards drilling projects, pipelines and other fossil fuel activity. In total, banks have financed fossil fuels by $7.9tn since the Paris deal.
'By injecting a staggering $869bn into fossil fuel financing in 2024 alone, the world's largest banks fund the climate chaos that fossil fuel companies wreak on people and communities worldwide,' said David Tong, global industry campaign manager at Oil Change International and a co-author of the report.
'Governments must step in and take urgent action to hold financial institutions accountable for their role in the climate crisis.'
While most of the world's top financial firms have pledged to abide by the Paris deal and help tackle the climate crisis, many of them have ignored or walked back these promises in the past year while predicting catastrophic global temperature rises. Last year, six US senators said that JPMorgan Chase may have misled investors by backtracking on its climate commitments.
Then, in January, shortly before the inauguration of Trump as US president, the six largest American banks – JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs – all withdrew from the net zero banking alliance.
The alliance is a United Nations-sponsored initiative to spur banks to align their lending and investment portfolios with the Paris goals. It requires banks to set targets and reduce emissions associated with their investments.
'This year, banks have shown their true colors – many have walked away from climate commitments and doubled down on financing fossil fuel expansion, even as global temperatures break records,' said Lucie Pinson, director and founder at Reclaim Finance, and another report co-author.
'A few European banks may have inched forward, but for most, the lure of dirty money has proven too strong.'
The Guardian contacted all of the top lenders to fossil fuels about the report, which is called Banking on Climate Chaos. A Citi spokesperson said that it supports the 'transition to a low-carbon economy and, in 2021, made a commitment to reach net-zero greenhouse gas financed emissions by 2050.
'We work with our clients as they seek to decarbonize their businesses and support clean energy solutions as part of our $1tn sustainable finance goal. Our approach reflects the need to transition while also continuing to meet global needs for energy security, particularly in this time of increasing electricity demand.'
A Barclays spokesperson said: 'Barclays provides finance to meet consumer and businesses energy needs while financing the scaling of clean energy. Last year, we mobilised nearly $100bn more Sustainable and Transition Finance than in 2023 and continue to invest £500m in climate tech start-ups by 2027. These are significant interventions to support our clients to transition.' ENDS
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