Banks Continue to Finance Fossil Fuel Expansion

The 14th annual Banking on Climate Chaos report has revealed that in 2022 banks provided US$673 billion in fossil fuel financing. This takes the total invested by the world’s largest 60 banks since the adoption of the Paris Agreement to US$5.5 trillion. The largest financial flows came from North American banks, with the Royal Bank of Canada the biggest source of money in 2022, providing US$42.1 billion in funding, while JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo were responsible for 28% of total fossil fuel financing in last year. JP Morgan is responsible for providing the highest amount of funding for fossil fuels at US$434.1 between 2016 and 2021. European banks are also among the biggest financiers of fossil fuels, providing US$130.5 billion last year, including US$30.3 billion directly to the top 100 fossil fuel developers. Sixteen global banks increased their financing to fossil fuels between 2021 and 2022, including BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and UniCredit. The largest nine US and European oil and gas companies, which account for 16.2% of short-term oil and gas expansion plans globally, have received US$201.3 billion of financing from European banks since 2016. While total fossil fuel funding fell from a revised US$801 billion in 2021, 2022 marked a record year of profits for fossil fuel companies which made US$4 trillion.

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