Financial institutions channeled more than $1.5 trillion into the coal industry in loans and underwriting from January 2019 to November 2021, despite many having made "net zero" pledges, a report by a group of 28 nongovernmental organizations shows.
Cutting coal use is a key part of global efforts to slash climate-warming greenhouse gases and bring emissions down to net zero by the middle of the century, and governments, firms and financial institutions worldwide have pledged to take action.
But banks continue to fund 1,032 firms involved in the mining, trading, transportation and use of coal, the research shows.