Last year, the world’s 65 largest banking institutions financed fossil fuel companies to the tune of 906 billion dollars, an increase of 8% compared to 2024.
The data are revealed in the 17th edition of the report “Banking on Climate Chaos,” led by the non-governmental organization Rainforest Action Network (RAN). The analysis shows that since the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted in 2015, this same group of banks directed 8.7 trillion dollars to oil, gas, and coal companies and projects.
According to the report, in 2025 JPMorgan Chase remained at the top of the list as the main financier of fossil fuels, providing 58 billion dollars to sector companies, up 12.6% from 2024. Bank of America appears in second place and the Japanese Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group in third, both with 47 billion dollars each.
The 12 banks that finance fossil fuels the most globally already account for almost 40% of all banking financing granted to companies in that sector, out of a total of about 2,000 banks worldwide analyzed in this report.
Financing for companies that are actively increasing their fossil fuel exploration jumped 27% in 2025, to 508 billion dollars. The organizations involved in this work say that financing the expansion of fossil fuel exploration is incompatible with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as stipulated in the Paris Agreement.
American banks are the main source of fossil fuel financing globally, increasing their share from 28% in 2021 to 32% in 2025.
Conversely, European banks show a trend of decreasing fossil fuel financing: 28% at BNP Paribas, 36% at UBS, and 34% at La Caixa. However, not all banks are reducing the money they lend to fossil fuel companies, as is the case with Standard Chartered, with a 28% increase in 2025, Deutsche Bank, with a 20% rise in financing, and HSBC with a 16% increase.
The report recalls the collapse of the global banking alliance that aimed to align financing with the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including the end of fossil fuel financing. Created in April 2021, the alliance, which relied on voluntary commitments, was dissolved in October 2025 after several banks backed away from their climate policies and commitments, something that, according to the dominant interpretation, was largely due to the climate-hostile stance of the United States government and the banks’ desire to avoid losing support and becoming targets of retaliation by more conservative American politicians.
“A decade after the Paris Agreement, only 12 banks are today responsible for more than a third of global fossil fuel financing, proof that this is no longer a market problem, but a small group of decision-makers making deliberate choices,” criticizes Niko Lusiani, research director at RAN and co-author of the report.
For the spokesperson, these banks “are opting to consolidate an energy system that yields record profits to a handful of fossil fuel sector companies, while transferring the costs to three in four people in the world who depend on imported fuel.” “The good news is that what a handful of banks have built governments and people around the world have the power to change,” he adds.
