News

Investments of $1.9 trillion into fossil fuels 2016-2018 – lets channel part of that to geothermal

Investments of $1.9 trillion into fossil fuels 2016-2018 – lets channel part of that to geothermal Top banks that financed fossil fuels 2016-2018 (source: Ran.org)
Alexander Richter 23 Mar 2019

Up to $1.9 trillion were invested by banks into fossil fuels 2016-2019. A new report shows who are the top banks funding fossil fuels. With activities in oil & gas, we as an industry should target those banks to fund geothermal and other renewables for that matter.

A report has been released on Wednesday last week called “Banking on Climate Change 2019). It highlights the banks that have invested most in fossil fuels since 2016.

The total amount invested into fossil fuels for the period since 2016 adds up to $1.9 trillion … that is $1,900 billion, or $1,900,000 million.

Here an overview on the banks that invested the most (Top 15 from most to less):

  • JPMorgan Chase
  • WellsFargo
  • Citi
  • Bank of America
  • RBC
  • Barclays
  • MUF
  • TD
  • Scotiabank
  • Mizuho
  • Morgan Stanley
  • Goldman Sachs
  • HSBC
  • Credit Suisse
  • Bank of Montreal

Here the full list:

TopBanks_financingfossilfuels_2016-2018_long

 

One inescapable finding of this report is that JPMorgan Chase is very clearly the world’s worst banker of climate change,” the report, titled “Banking on Climate Change,” found. “The race was not even close: the $196 billion the bank poured into fossil fuels between 2016 and 2018 is nearly a third higher than the second-worst bank, Wells Fargo.” so Truthout.

A half-dozen environmental groups — Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Sierra Club, Oil Change International, Indigenous Environmental Network, and Honor the Earth — authored the 2019 report, which was endorsed by 160 organizations worldwide. It tracked the financing for 1,800 companies involved in extracting, transporting, burning, or storing fossil fuels or fossil-generated electricity and examined the roles played by banks worldwide.

What is interesting is that the report even goes deeper, looking at the banks financing oil & gas development in the Arctic, ultra-deep oil & gas, and fracking financing.

How does this matter to geothermal, you might ask. Well, these banks have an understanding of drilling risk, know the companies that do the drilling or developing oil & gas resources. While geothermal energy as such is a utility business and not a commodity business, such as oil & gas, the synergies are there. It is up to us to target these banks and highlight the opportunities provided by geothermal energy and how it could help these banks to play a positive role in financing renewable energy projects and at the same time tap into the knowledge built in the relatable oil and gas sector.

For further details and charts, see the data panels provided by RAN.org.

Source: Truthout