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Thursday, May 16th, 2024

Report: Since Paris, Banks Have Channeled $6.9 Trillion to Fossil Fuel Firms

Author:     Damien Gayle
Source:     Mother Jones / The Guardian
Publication Date:     14 May 2024
 Link: Report: Since Paris, Banks Have Channeled $6.9 Trillion to Fossil Fuel Firms
Stephan:  

I think all of the people of the earth may have to prepare themselves for a civilization-wide catastrophe that will change every society because of the untrammeled greed of a tiny fraction of humanity. Eight years ago in 2016 196 countries signed an agreement to limit carbon emissions and keep the planet’s temperature from rising more than 2°C (above 35.6°F) or, better yet, just 1.5°C (above 34.7°F). It was as close as our species has come to a universal agreement. And what happened? Read this fact-based article and look at what greed produced. Banks gave the carbon industries nearly seven trillion dollars so they could continue along their path to the climate change disaster, and the banks and the fossil fuel corporations go blithely on making profits as the earth’s temperature rises past the limits the Paris Agreement established.

Credit: Gina M Randazzo/Zuma

The world’s big banks have handed nearly $7 trillion in funding to the fossil fuel industry since the Paris agreement on carbon emissions, according to research.

In 2016, after talks in Paris, 196 countries signed an agreement to limit global heating as a result of carbon emissions to at most 2°C above preindustrial levels, with an ideal limit of 1.5°C to prevent the worst impacts of a drastically changed climate.

Many countries have since promised to reduce carbon emissions, but the latest research shows private interests continued to funnel money to oil, gas, and coal companies, which have used it to expand their operations.

Eight in 10 of the world’s most eminent climate scientists now foresee at least 2.5°C of global heating, according to the results of a Guardian survey published last week—an outcome expected to lead to devastating consequences for civilization.

Researchers for the banking on climate chaos report, now in its 15th edition, analyzed the world’s top 60 banks’ underwriting and lending to more than 4,200 fossil fuel firms and […]

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2 Comments

  1. Albus Eddie on Thursday, May 16, 2024 at 5:43 am

    What a wonderful article. It demonstrates in stark fashion the independence of capital from governmental ( and human) priorities. Capital does what it pleases, and governments are forced to catch up, and generally comply.

    Banks have one and only one priority- profit for the shareholder, and societal costs be damned. This article demonstrates the process whereby artificial persons ( corporations) end up with more rights than biological persons.

    Ever wonder why we have the rise of populism in Europe and the US? Well when bankers impose austerity on the population regardless of social costs and governments are unable to stop them, populism is the natural result.

    Only when bankers are held to account for the consequences of their actions will behavioral changes occur.

  2. sam crespi on Thursday, May 16, 2024 at 5:10 pm

    It’s terrible how much damage the greed of a small number can do! This is a variation on a forever character aspect that’s been seen and felt for centuries. And there doesn’t seem to be a strong enlightend leadership with goals that affirm life.