Two-thirds of the biggest 65 banks increased financing by $162bn from 2023 to 2024, walking back climate promises
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.
