FACT BRIEF

Have banks meaningfully reduced their investment in fossil fuel projects?

Friday, January 22, 2021

By Austin Tannenbaum

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While some banks have committed to various sustainability initiatives, including refusing to finance Arctic oil drilling, their overall support for fossil fuel projects continues to rise.

According to a tabulation by an alliance of climate-focused advocacy groups, fossil fuel investment (lending as well as underwriting of debt and equity financings) by 35 leading global banks has increased in recent years. In 2016, total fossil-fuel investment by the group was nearly $640 billion. In 2019, that number rose to more than $735 billion. While financing for the top 100 companies in the sector fell by 20% between 2016 and 2018, investments jumped 40% the next year.

Boston Common Asset Management similarly found that financing for fossil fuels has continued to rise among 58 of the world's largest banks, “totaling $1.9 trillion from 2016-2018.”

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Sources

MarketWatch: Bank of America joins big US banks that won’t finance oil in the Arctic refuge Trump opened to drilling

Price of Oil: Fossil fuel finance report 2020

Boston Common Asset Management: Banking sector failing to respond to climate emergency

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