The world’s top 65 banks have financed fossil fuels with $7.9 trillion since the Paris Agreement, according to the latest edition of the Banking on Climate Chaos report.
Big banks poured $869 billion into fossil fuels in 2024 alone, with two thirds of banks covered in the report increasing their fossil fuel financing from 2023 to 2024. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), any new fossil fuel expansion projects are incompatible with achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
The report shows that despite having adopted ‘net zero’ commitments and other climate policies in previous years, many global banks have abandoned these climate pledges and substantially increased their fossil fuel financing, including finance for fossil fuel expansion.
JP Morgan Chase ($53.5bn) was once again the world’s biggest fossil fuel financier in 2024 – the hottest year ever recorded – followed by Bank of America ($46bn) and Citigroup ($44.7bn). In Europe, Barclays was the largest fossil fuel financier last year ($35.4bn) – ramping up financing to fossil fuels by over 50% in 2024.
The Banking on Climate Chaos 2025 report is endorsed by 492 organizations from 69 countries, including Laudato Si’ Movement, CAFOD, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), JustMoney Movement, CatholicNetwork US and GreenFaith.
In November 2024, Catholic religious orders and charities, including the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace and SCIAF, joined over 70 Christian organisations to publish a statement of concern calling on the big five UK high-street banks to end their financing of new fossil fuels.
Responding to the Banking on Climate Chaos report, Bishop Gerry Alminaza, Bishop of San Carlos and Lead Bishop on Laudato Si’ for the Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines who recently attended AGMs of European banks to raise concerns about their financing of fossil fuel projects in the Verde Island Passage, said: “Despite the 2015 Paris Agreement and the worsening climate emergency – already a harsh reality for us in the Global South – many financial institutions, as this report reveals, continue to fund fossil fuel companies. By doing so, they bear direct responsibility for the growing loss of human lives, livelihoods and biodiversity in our region.
“We have witnessed this in the devastating impact on the Verde Island Passage in the Philippines and the Coral Triangle in Southeast Asia – areas vital to both local communities and ecological balance.
“It is painfully clear: profit is still being placed above people and planet. Have we lost our sense of shared humanity and our universal responsibility to care for one another? Have we forgotten that we are deeply interconnected and that the suffering of one ultimately affects us all?”
Sr Susan Francois CSJP, Assistant Congregation Leader and Treasurer at the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace, who filed a resolution against Citigroup earlier this year over the impact of its fossil fuel financing on indigenous rights, said: “Our dear Pope Francis was clear that God wants the economy to serve life, not kill or destroy Earth, our Common Home. The Sisters are committed to engaging financial institutions to advocate for responsible investment in present and future generations.”
James Buchanan, Climate Finance Campaign Manager at Laudato Si’ Movement, said: “It is hugely concerning that in 2024, the hottest year ever recorded, the world’s biggest banks have rowed back on climate pledges and significantly increased their financing to fossil fuel companies driving the climate emergency. One of the most powerful actions that Catholics can take is to switch to greener banks – calling for change, putting our money where our faith is and hitting the big banks’ bottom line.”
The Banking on Climate Chaos 2025 report can be accessed here.
About Laudato Si’ Movement:
Laudato Si’ Movement is a global movement of grassroots leaders and member organisations, mobilising and inspiring the Catholic community to achieve climate and ecological justice. laudatosimovement.org