Climate change

Report: Banks Pour $906 Billion Into Fossil Fuels

Is this sabotaging the Paris Agreement or simply meeting urgent global energy demands?

JUN 9·Updated JUN 10

Report: Banks Pour $906 Billion Into Fossil Fuels

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Above: A man stands next to Pemex pumpjacks in Veracruz state, Mexico on April 10. Image credit: Marco Antonio Martinez/AFP/Getty Images

The Facts

The world's 65 largest banks committed $906 billion to fossil fuel financing in 2025, an 8% increase from $869 billion in 2024, according to the 17th annual Banking on Climate Chaos report coordinated by the Rainforest Action Network.
Yahoo Finance
Financial Times
JPMorgan Chase ranked as the world's top fossil fuel financier for the third consecutive year, committing $58.2 billion in 2025 — a 12.6% rise from 2024. Bank of America, MUFG, Mizuho Financial and Citigroup rounded out the top five.
OilPrice.com
DeSmog
The top 65 banks committed $508 billion to fossil fuel expansion in 2025, a roughly 27% increase from 2024. Financing for the midstream sector — which transports and stores oil and gas — surged 84%, totaling $255 billion.
Net Zero Investor
INKL
Coal financing rose sharply in 2025, with funding for coal mining up 77% and coal power financing up 40% compared to 2024. Chinese banks funded over 80% of global coal mining expansion, while most oil and gas expansion financing originated in the United States.
DeSmog
Green Central Banking
U.S. banks accounted for 32% of all global fossil fuel financing in 2025, the single largest regional share. Meanwhile, European banks including BNP Paribas, UBS and La Caixa reduced their fossil fuel financing by 28%, 36% and 34% respectively.
Net Zero Investor
Financial Times
The U.N.-backed Net Zero Banking Alliance disbanded last year following a wave of departures, including all five major Canadian banks, which have collectively increased fossil fuel financing by over 27% to nearly $70 billion.
guardian
Net Zero Investor

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The Spin

Climate activist narrative

Banks pumping $906 billion into fossil fuels in 2025 — an 8% jump from 2024 — are actively sabotaging the Paris Agreement and locking in decades of carbon emissions. JPMorgan Chase alone funneled $58 billion to fossil fuel companies as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East proved fossil fuel dependence creates instability, not security. Binding financial regulations are the only path forward.

Rainforest Action Network

Climate-concerned narrative

Banks financing fossil fuels are responding to real global energy demand. All the banks named remain committed to sustainable finance alongside traditional energy, even as renewables remain uncertain investments. Cutting off fossil fuel financing before viable alternatives scale up would devastate energy affordability for households globally and induce economic precarity.

S&P Global

Financial Times

Climate-skeptic narrative

The alarmism around "financing climate change" is thankfully beginning to shift. The overly restrictive rhetoric about looming "climate catastrophe" is pivoting towards more nuanced views that balance economic growth and energy security. There has been a pivot away from a faulty illusion of a green economy to a more realistic and prosperous vision.