Big Money Dodging Climate And New Energy Commitments

Just 7% of global banks' energy financing goes to renewables, new data shows; Data Indicates Major Failings By Financial Institutions To Help Meet Global Commitments On Net Zero

January 23, 2023 (Sierra Club)

“…[New data shows] just 7% of bank] financing for energy companies went to renewables between 2016 and 2022…[Financial institutions showed] shockingly low financial support through loans and bond underwriting for clean energy. It calls into question pledges from the industry-led Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), whose commissioned research shows low carbon energy investments need to account for at least 80% of energy investments compared to fossil fuels (4:1) by 2030 to reach climate goals…[N]o bank looks set to reach this very minimum requirement…

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….[A]t $181 billion Citi and JP Morgan Chase each pumped the most into the energy companies examined between 2016 and 2022 but just 2% went to renewables…[Only 2% of Barclays’ financing of the energy companies examined went to renewables. Royal Bank of Canada is at just 1%, Mizuho 4% and HSBC 5%...Bank loans and bond underwriting for renewables went from 7% in 2016 [$23.2 billion] of the overall financing of the energy companies examined to a high of 10% in 2021 [$34.5 billion] but virtually stagnated between these years, rather than showing any positive trend…

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Overall the 60 banks saw $2.5 trillion in loans and bond underwriting provided to the companies examined for energy activities between January 2016 and July 2022…[with$2.3 trillion to fossil fuel energy and just $178 billion to] clean energy activities such as wind and solar…[and] banks that are members of GFANZ actually provide less financing for renewable energy, on average, than their counterparts that are not in the alliance… [I]t's high time for banks to stop supporting fossil fuel expansion and commit to massive 2025 and 2030 clean financing…” click here for more

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