‘World’s money is flowing in the wrong direction’: Funding of fossil fuels eclipses climate finance. Funding for polluting industries far outstrips support for climate change mitigation, a new report shows.

Top banks are funding two of the world’s most polluting industries far more aggressively than governments are funding solutions, a new report reveals.

Banks including HSBC, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase have poured almost €3 trillion into the expansion of fossil fuels in the Global South since the Paris Agreement on Climate Change was adopted seven years ago.

‘World’s money is flowing in the wrong direction’: Funding of fossil fuels eclipses climate finance

A further €340 billion has been funneled into industrial agriculture, the second major cause of climate change, according to an analysis by the NGO ActionAid.

This is 20 times more than Global North governments have provided developing nations to mitigate the climate crisis.

“The world’s money is flowing in the wrong direction,” says Arthur Larok, secretary general at ActionAid International. “This is absurd and must stop.”

Which banks are financing fossil fuels?

The report, ‘How the Finance Flows: The banks fuelling the climate crisis’, reveals the top banks from each region funding fossil fuels and industrial agriculture in the Global South.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was found to be the largest financier of fossil fuels between 2016 and 2022.

Among European banks, HSBC was the worst offender. But the British bank decided in December last year that it would no longer provide funding for new oil and gas fields.

Other European banks highlighted in the report include BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Barclays.

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