Global banking giants directed more than $700 billion (€650 billion) last year towards fossil fuels, according to a report published on Monday by a consortium of NGOs.
The report, 'Banking on Climate Chaos', analyses fossil fuel financing among the world's 60 biggest banks, with the worst offenders being in the US and Japan.
While it shows that overall the amount banks are investing in fossil fuels is declining, it highlighted a "surprising" trend last year of increased fossil fuel financing among a handful of European banks.
When grouped geographically, banks in North America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania all show year on year declines from 2022. However the report noted that the decline among European banks was "quite small", driven by an increase in financing for methane gas and utilities by banks in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Denmark.
No Belgian banks made the top 60 list in this year's report, although a separate report last year found that eleven Belgian companies had more than €845 million invested fossil fuel companies through shares and bonds.
"Urgent action is required by banks to stop funding oil and gas expansion and instead support sustainable energy financing," stated Lucie Pinson, founder and director of Reclaim Finance, in a release.
Reclaim Finance is a Paris-based NGO which campaigns for a sustainable transition within the finance sector, and which contributed to the report.
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Since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, close to $6.896 trillion (€6.4 trillion) in loans, equity issuances, and bonds have been channelled by banks towards oil, gas and coal companies, the report revealed.
The 60 banks studied last year allocated $705.8 billion (€655 billion) to the fossil fuel industry in various forms of financial support, a 9.5% decrease compared to to the previous year, on a like-for-like basis.
Leading the pack last year was US bank JPMorgan Chase, which increased fossil fuel financing by 5.4% to almost $41bn (€38.05 billion).
Japanese mega-bank Mizuho followed in second place, having increased its fossil fuel financing from $35.4 billion to $37 billion last year, rising four places in the annual ranks.
In a statement co-published with Friends of the Earth France, Reclaim Finance highlighted that 7% of all fossil fuel financing since 2016 has come from French banks - making France the top EU contributor in the rankings.
The report did note that there has been a steady withdrawal by French banks from fossil fuel financing since 2020, with 2023 seeing a scaling back of funding to major public and private oil and gas companies.
French banking majors, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale and BPCE, Crédit Mutuel and La Banque Postale contributed around $40bn (€37.12 billion) last year, a roughly $10 billion (€9.28 billion) decline from 2022, accounting for 5.6% of the total, according to the study.
