Post by sweetpea33 on Jan 23, 2024 1:39:34 GMT -5
The overwhelming majority of fossil fuel financing goes unchecked by banks' policies, it warns, given that climate pledges unveiled to date tend to focus on project-specific finance, which represents a mere 5 percent of all fossil fuel financing handed out by banks. Furthermore, the report underscores that more fossil fuel financing took place January through June than any six-month period since 2016, as large corporations around the world capitalized on low interest rates and central bank bond-buying programs to load up on cheap debt.
This binge then was offset by record low financing in the second half of the year, it notes, leading to an overall fall of financing of 9 percent. Ginger Cassady, executive director of the Rainforest Email List Action Network, one of the groups behind the analysis, said the banking sector faced a "stark choice" as it plotted its strategy for steering a global recovery from the coronavirus crisis. "The unprecedented COVID-19 dip in global financing for fossil fuels offers the world's largest banks a stark choice point going forward," she said. "They can decide to lock in the downward trajectory of support for the primary industry driving the climate crisis or they can recklessly snap back to business as usual as the economy recovers." The report reveals that U.S.
Banks continue to be the largest drivers of global emissions, with JP Morgan Chase retaining its position as the world's largest fossil fuel funder. U.K. bank Barclays is singled out as being the most prolific fossil fuel funder in Europe over the five-year period surveyed, with the analysis highlighting it increased fracking financing by 24 percent in 2020. Meanwhile, BNP Paribas shot up the scoreboard after increasing its financing to fossil fuel companies by 41 percent in 2020 to $41 billion, making it the fourth worst financer of fossil fuels in 2020.
This binge then was offset by record low financing in the second half of the year, it notes, leading to an overall fall of financing of 9 percent. Ginger Cassady, executive director of the Rainforest Email List Action Network, one of the groups behind the analysis, said the banking sector faced a "stark choice" as it plotted its strategy for steering a global recovery from the coronavirus crisis. "The unprecedented COVID-19 dip in global financing for fossil fuels offers the world's largest banks a stark choice point going forward," she said. "They can decide to lock in the downward trajectory of support for the primary industry driving the climate crisis or they can recklessly snap back to business as usual as the economy recovers." The report reveals that U.S.
Banks continue to be the largest drivers of global emissions, with JP Morgan Chase retaining its position as the world's largest fossil fuel funder. U.K. bank Barclays is singled out as being the most prolific fossil fuel funder in Europe over the five-year period surveyed, with the analysis highlighting it increased fracking financing by 24 percent in 2020. Meanwhile, BNP Paribas shot up the scoreboard after increasing its financing to fossil fuel companies by 41 percent in 2020 to $41 billion, making it the fourth worst financer of fossil fuels in 2020.