Banks fossil fuel finance totals $869B in 2024, a dramatic increase in financing
This is a new trend, since overall #fossilfuelfinance had been decreasing since 2021
Banks financed #fossilfuels by $7.9 trillion since the #ParisAccords
Loans were the top form of financing last year, with an increase to $467B from $422B from 2023
Bonds saw the largest increase to $401B from $284B from 2023
Acquisition financing also rose to $82.9B from $63.7B from 2023
"Canada Still Hands Billions to Fossil Fuel Industry
… the Canadian government’s accumulated subsidies to the oil and gas sector over the last four years was at least $65 billion. …
That level of support could have fully funded every major wind and solar project in Canada from 2019 to 2021 12 times over"
Last year was one of the worst on record for climate change-related disasters, yet Canada’s federal government spent $18.6 billion supporting the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry, according to a new Environmental Defence report.
"The US Export-Import Bank … has voted to provide a $500m loan guarantee for an oil-and-gas project in Bahrain … The move faced pushback from Democrats who said it would undermine US credibility on climate issues, after the US agreed alongside other nations to 'transition away' from fossil fuels at the most recent UN climate summit, according to the news outlet. … the bank is also considering support for other fossil-fuel infrastructure overseas"
"Relying on private companies to solve the climate crisis means that the planet’s fate rests in the hands of asset managers …
One of the sectors where stock performance is worst happens to be one the world arguably needs to be best. That sector is clean, renewable energy …
Returns [of clean energy] are typically in the 5-8% range. Compare that with oil and gas production, where returns generally exceed 15%"
Relying on private companies to solve the climate crisis means that the planet’s fate rests in the hands of asset managers, says Brett Christophers, a professor at Sweden’s Uppsala University
Europe’s banks helped fossil fuel firms raise more than €1tn from global bond markets https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/26/europes-banks-helped-fossil-fuel-firms-raise-more-than-1tn-from-global-bond-markets?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
What bothers me most about this story is how I somehow find it so unsurprising. Especially the bit about choosing not to include bonds in decarbonisation disclosures. Hiding in plain sight.
Since the adoption of the Paris agreement in late 2015, the 35 banks in the scope of this report have provided $2.7 trillion in lending and underwriting to the fossil fuel industry, with annual fossil financing increasing each year. JPMorgan Chase became the first bank to blow past the quarter-trillion dollar mark in post-Paris fossil financing.
rexi
Lucomo
GreenerFutures
Larry Neufeld
Josef Davies-Coates