Despite climate ambitions to phase out carbon emissions by 2050, fossil companies continue to invest in new oil pipelines and platforms, shale gas projects, and even coal mines. To finance these activities, they increasingly rely on the cooperation of the banks.

That is what the newspaper De Tijd revealed on Tuesday, based on research from the Dutch news collectives Investico and Follow the Money and other European media. De Tijd’s research shows that more than 400 financial institutions participated in 1 666 bond issues.

Polluting activities

Despite the Paris climate agreement in December 2015, where more than 190 countries agreed to combat global warming, several companies continue their polluting activities unabated.

However, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned in 2021 that every new oil, gas, or coal project further jeopardizes the goals of the Paris Agreement.

BP and Shell

The companies are supported by hundreds of banks, financial service providers, and law firms. Among them are the Mexican Pemex, the Brazilian Petrobras, the Russian Rosneft, and the British oil giants Shell and BP.

The three banks most often involved in these bond issues are American: JPMorgan Chase, Citi, and Bank of America. Deutsche Bank, the British HSBC, and the French Crédit Agricole are the three most important European banks. BNP Paribas also appears in the top ten.