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What happens when the world’s biggest banks pledge to fight climate change, and then pour hundreds of billions of dollars into the very industries driving it?
In 2025, the world’s largest banks increased fossil fuel financing to $906 billion — a $65 billion increase from 2024 — as many retreated from earlier climate promises. The shift comes as the Trump administration rolls back climate regulations and pushes policies aimed at expanding fossil fuel production. But critics say the trend reveals a deeper problem.
“Banks keep telling us they’re committed to climate,” said report coauthor Diogo Silva of BankTrack, a non-profit that monitors banks and the projects they finance. “Then they abandon their own policies the moment political pressure mounts.”
While major American banks were already among the biggest fossil fuel financiers, the new political landscape has left the U.S. increasingly “off-kilter” with global climate efforts, according to coauthor Niko Lusiani, research director for Rainforest Action Network, which sponsored the report.
Why does it matter when the world’s biggest banks pour billions more into fossil fuels?
Because every new pipeline, drilling project, and gas terminal financed today can lock the planet into decades more climate pollution — even as scientists warn that emissions need to fall sharply to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. Get the full story.
The same fossil fuel industry driving climate change also gets a megaphone on some of the world’s most influential media platforms, according to a new analysis.
Source: DeSmog