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Oil & gas expansion A lose-lose bet for banks and their investors

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The International Energy Agency has made it clear: net zero means no new oil & gas projects. Yet, since 2016, European banks have provided over US$400 billion to the top 50 companies expanding oil & gas production.

Our latest research shows:

  • HSBC, Barclays and BNP Paribas are the worst offenders, providing US$59 million billion, US$48 billion and US$46 billion respectively since 2016.
  • The Net Zero Banking Alliance has thus far failed to make an impact on this critical issue. Its members provided at least US$38 billion in financing to the top 50 upstream oil & gas expanders since its launch last April. Half of this was provided by four founding signatories: Barclays, BNP Paribas. Deutsche Bank, and HSBC.
  • Only a handful of banks restrict financing to oil & gas projects and even fewer restrict financing to the companies expanding oil & gas capacity. Project finance restrictions alone are meaningless.