The world’s biggest banks gave fossil fuel companies $3.8 trillion in financing in the years following the Paris Agreement, according to a new report. Even though 2020 lending was down 9% compared to the previous year, it was still higher than in 2016, when the Paris Agreement took effect, and lending to the 100 fossil fuel companies with the biggest plans to expand actually rose by 10%. American and Canadian banks accounted for 13 of the 60 banks reviewed in the report, with JPMorgan Chase providing more fossil fuel financing than any other bank. “Despite this significant drop from 2019 to 2020, the overall trend of the last five years is one heading definitively in the wrong direction,” the report said.
The report comes as pressure is mounting on financial institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels driving climate change and multiple banks have touted promises to cut and offset their greenhouse gas pollution, including JPMorgan, HSBC, and Citigroup. (The Guardian, Reuters, AFP, Bloomberg $, Morning Consult, CNBC, HuffPost)
[This summary corrects a typographical error included in the morning emailed newsletter regarding the amount of money lent.]