If you weren’t already thinking that the transition economy is going to be long and bumpy, you may find this troublesome. Net Zero Investor reported
“Two-thirds of the 45 biggest banks globally increased their financing of the fossil fuel industry between 2023 and 2024, despite many having signed up to net zero pledges, new research finds. In total, the 65 largest banks worldwide committed $869bn to fossil fuel firms, of which $429bn was directed to the expansion of oil and gas operations, according to the latest Banking on Climate Chaos report…
This continued backing for fossil fuels comes amid a wave of exits from the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), whose membership has halved over the past year with US, Japanese and Canadian Banks leaving the coalition… In response to these exits, the NZBA has scaled down its ambitions…”
It’s something of a conundrum: while many companies are looking to reduce their GHG emissions across all scopes (and hoping their suppliers will be incentivized to do the same), the fossil fuel industry continues to have seemingly unfettered access to capital – half of which is used to grow oil and gas operations. The optimist’s view is “Yeah, but that means 50% ISN’T going to fossil fuel projects so it is probably funding alternative energy or CCS.” Fair enough, but more continued financing of fossil fuel isn’t speeding up a transition.
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