Uche Cecil Izuora
Bank financing for the fossil fuel sector reportedly grew in 2025, according to the latest edition of the Banking on Climate Chaos 2026 report.
The information was published in early June by a coalition of non-governmental organizations specializing in climate and environmental issues.
The report, now in its 17th edition, found that the world’s 65 largest banks increased their financing for fossil fuel producers by 8 per cent to $906 billion in 2025.
Banks based in the United States, Canada, Japan, China, the United Kingdom and the European Union accounted for nearly 90 per cent of global fossil fuel financing. The total included $508 billion allocated to fossil fuel expansion projects, representing an increase of $108 billion from 2024.
“This is a 27.1 per cent increase in one year, supporting the extension and potential lock-in of decades of future climate emissions and energy instability. In 2025, major banks increased financing for expansion across the oil and gas value chain, particularly in transportation and power generation. In another troubling development, financiers also increased lending and underwriting activities for companies expanding coal, including coal-fired power plants and coal mines,” the coalition said.
Overall, the report estimates that these banks have provided $8.7 trillion to oil, gas and coal activities since the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015. “If these banks had devoted nearly $9 trillion to financing a just energy transition over the last decade, the world would be significantly healthier, fairer and safer today,” the report’s authors said.
Among the roughly 65 institutions reviewed, the report singled out 12 banks for particular criticism.
The report labeled the group the “Dirty Dozen” and said the banks accounted for nearly 40 per cent of global financing for fossil fuel projects.
JPMorgan Chase ranked as the largest fossil fuel financier worldwide, according to the report. The bank provided $58.2 billion in fossil fuel financing during 2025. Bank of America followed with $47.3 billion, while Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group provided $46.5 billion. Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group also supplied $46.5 billion, and Citigroup rounded out the top five with $45.3 billion.
The remainder of the group included three additional U.S. banks—Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs one Japanese lender, SMBC Group, two Canadian banks, Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank, and the U.K.-based lender Barclays.
“Banks and public policymakers are making active choices in this new era of fossil fuel-driven instability. By directly financing fossil fuel expansion, helping project developers raise money from bond investors, concentrating debt among a small group of heavily indebted companies, and underfunding renewable alternatives that are now cheaper and safer, the world’s largest banks are choosing to make our energy system more expensive, fragile and unequal,” the authors said.
The report arrives as renewable energy reaches a historic milestone. Renewable power met all growth in global electricity demand during 2025, according to several industry experts, signaling that the technological shift toward cleaner energy continues to accelerate.
At the same time, solar and wind power increased their share of global electricity consumption as falling costs and technological improvements boosted deployment worldwide. Against this backdrop, analysts argue that the next major battleground in the energy transition will likely center on financial markets.