Banking on Climate Chaos 2021 looks at the world’s 60 largest private sector banks and finds that together they financed fossil fuels with $3.8 trillion since the Paris Agreement was adopted.
Despite a massive global drop in fossil fuel demand and production last year, banks’ 2020 fossil fuel financing numbers still remained above 2016 levels, and the overall trend of the last five years remains headed in the wrong direction. The report was published March 23 by Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Reclaim Finance and Sierra Club, and endorsed by more than 300 organizations from nearly 50 countries.
JPMorgan Chase remains the world’s worst funder of climate chaos, though Citi came in a close second in 2020. Worst in Canada: RBC. Worst in the UK: Barclays. Worst in the EU: BNP Paribas. Worst in Japan: MUFG. Worst in China: Bank of China.
Banking on Climate Chaos also scores banks’ fossil fuel policies, and analyzes the recent wave of bank financed emissions commitments — finding that “net zero” commitments are a reluctant admission that banks are major emitters, but no substitute for immediate steps to phase out financing of fossil fuels, and that banks must avoid relying on “net zero” schemes that violate human rights and Indigenous rights.
The report also highlights case studies around the world where banks’ fossil fuel financing harms communities on the ground, from the Line 3 tar sands pipeline in Minnesota, to the EMBA Hunutlu coal plant in Turkey.
At bankingonclimatechaos.org you can download the report, interact with the data, read the case studies, and take action. If you’d like to spread the word, here is a social media toolkit with some sample posts and share graphics for your use! Thank you for all you are doing to end bank financing for fossil fuels and human rights abuses.