25 of the main European banks have provided 55 billion dollars to companies that develop oil and gas production in 2021. This is the observation of the NGO ShareAction which specifies that these banks nevertheless display carbon neutrality objectives. This figure is down from the last two years.
This $55 billion lent by these banks to 50 companies with major oil and gas development projects represents a drop of nearly half from 2020. It also marks a significant drop from the $83 billion in 2019. But these funding remains higher than in 2018 and 2017.
They also clash with the appeal of the International Energy Agency. In May, the IEA asked to stop investing in new oil and gas fields to be able to respect the Paris Agreement on the climate.
Among the banks studied, only three – Commerzbank, Crédit Mutuel and La Banque Postale – have begun to restrict their financing to companies developing oil and gas production…
On the contrary, the British HSBC, Barclays and the French BNP Paribas form the top three of the European establishments which finance this expansion the most.
In response, HSBC has however assured to work with its customers on the energy transition and will publish a document next week. Barclays says it expects an absolute 15% reduction in emissions funded by its energy customers by 2025.