Recently, the environmental organization Banking on Climate Chaos (BOCC) released its latest annual report, Banking on Climate Chaos 2025, which comprehensively analyzes the financing provided by 65 top global banks (ranked by asset size) to more than 2,700 fossil fuel companies.

The report highlights that, despite record-breaking global warming and frequent extreme weather events in 2024, major global banks not only failed to fulfill their “net-zero” commitments but instead significantly increased their financing support for the fossil fuel industry, totaling 869 billion USD, with 429 billion USD directed toward companies engaged in fossil fuel expansion.

The report strongly criticized the banking industry for “abandoning its commitments and accelerating climate disaster at the most critical moment of the climate crisis,” urging policymakers worldwide to strengthen financial regulation and halt banks' continued funding of fossil fuels.

(Image source: “Banking on Climate Chaos 2025”)

Overall Trends

According to the report, the world's 65 largest banks committed $869 billion in financing to companies engaged in fossil fuel operations in 2024, bringing the total since 2021 to nearly $3.3 trillion.

Nearly half of this amount ($429 billion) was directed toward fossil fuel expansion projects, an increase of $84.8 billion from 2023. This brings the total funding provided by these banks for fossil fuel expansion projects since 2021 to over $1.6 trillion.

Fossil fuel financing increased year-on-year for 45 of the banks. The 2024 data shows that total fossil fuel financing increased by $160 billion compared to 2023, reversing the downward trend of the previous two years.

● Loans were the primary form of financing last year, increasing from $422 billion in 2023 to $467 billion.

● Bond financing saw the largest increase, rising from $284 billion in 2023 to $401 billion.

● Acquisition financing also increased from $63.7 billion in 2023 to $82.9 billion.

In 2024, the top fossil fuel financing banks were: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Mizuho Financial Group, and Wells Fargo.

In 2024, the top fossil fuel expansion financing banks were: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Mizuho Financial Group, Citigroup, and CITIC Group.

Since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2016, the 65 banks in this year's report have committed to providing $7.9 trillion in financing for fossil fuel projects.

More banks have withdrawn from climate change mitigation policies, which may be one of the reasons for the increase in fossil fuel financing.

Expansion trend

Despite all evidence indicating that ensuring energy security and safeguarding community and planetary health does not require additional fossil fuel supply or infrastructure, banks continue to allocate increasing amounts of capital to the fossil fuel sector. Although no new pipelines, tankers, oil fields, or additional fossil fuel supply is needed, banks refuse to restrict their investments in fossil fuel expansion—a financial instability factor.

In 2024, the fossil fuel expansion companies that received the most bank financing include: Diamondback Energy Inc, Enbridge Inc, State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), BP plc, Occidental Petroleum Corporation, TotalEnergies SE, Sempra Energy, Energy Transfer LP, and Duke Energy Corporation.

Regional Trends

U.S. Trends

U.S. banks committed to providing $289 billion in financing for the fossil fuel sector in 2024, accounting for one-third of the global financing total for the year covered by this report. The four largest U.S. banks—JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo—alone accounted for 21% of the global fossil fuel financing total for the year covered by this report.

Asian Trends

Mizuho Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation ranked 4th, 6th, and 10th, respectively, in the 2024 financing rankings, collectively contributing 12% of the total financing for the year covered by this report. Nearly half of this financing flowed to companies headquartered in the United States.

China CITIC Bank and Bank of China were the most significant fossil fuel financing banks, providing $22.3 billion and $18.6 billion in financing, respectively, in 2024. Chinese banks typically only provide financing to Chinese fossil fuel companies.

European Trends

In Europe, Barclays Bank of the United Kingdom was the largest fossil fuel financing institution in 2024, with $35.4 billion in financing, and was the only European bank among the top twelve financing institutions.

Spanish Santander Bank, French BNP Paribas, German Deutsche Bank, and UK HSBC contributed between $14 billion and $17.3 billion to the industry in 2024.

The collapse of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA)

The report further reveals that most banks continue to support fossil fuel companies through corporate-level financing rather than project-specific financing. This means that even if banks impose restrictions on high-risk projects, they are still indirectly supporting expansion by providing “broad-purpose” financing to parent companies.

Additionally, some banks use “transition financing” as an excuse to justify supporting fossil fuel companies, but the report notes that if a company lacks a credible reduction plan and continues to expand, it cannot be considered genuine green transition financing.

The report states that within just 3-4 years, major banks have abandoned the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), which is shocking. At the 2021 Glasgow Climate Change Conference, banks had touted their commitments when the political timing was deemed right, but when it came time to deliver on those commitments and demonstrate progress, they weakened the system and ultimately abandoned it.

Banks should at least uphold their own vision and hold their clients accountable, working together to build an economy resilient to climate shocks.

“Banking on Climate Chaos 2025” was co-authored by Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development, Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), Oil Change International (OCI), Reclaim Finance, the Sierra Club, and Urgewald, and has been endorsed by 480 organizations across 69 countries.

Allison Fajans-Turner, Policy Lead at Rainforest Action Network: (co-author)“Distract, delay, deflect, and finally defect. If needed, rinse and repeat. Banks have used this playbook to keep themselves and the fossil fuel industry flush with cash, while loading the financial system with risk and running out the clock on keeping global temperatures from rising above 1.5˚C. The power of this report is that it cuts through these tactics and follows the money. Even in the face of worsening disasters and increasingly dire warnings of scientists and policy experts, banks actually increased their financing to fossil fuels between 2023 and 2024 and still poured billions into expanded fossil infrastructure. Only rapid and robust binding government regulation and oversight can make banks change course. Without binding regulation, banking on climate chaos will remain banks’ dominant investment strategy, tanking our economy and our planet.”

Author：Qinger