The dirtiest fossil fuel is still raising trillions of dollars in funding, despite finance industry pledges to back net zero carbon targets by the middle of the century.
Commercial banks have channeled more than $1.5 trillion into the coal supply chain since the start of 2019, according to a report from German research group Urgewald and its partners. The findings come just over three months after dozens of banks joined former Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney’s global alliance to achieve net zero emissions from finance.
Most agree it’s necessary to fight rising temperatures, yet few major global banks are willing to shun profitable fossil-fuel clients. The biggest coal lenders included Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., the study showed. Chinese banks dominated underwriting of capital raised by the coal industry.