New data reveals Japan is world’s top international public financier of fossil fuels

New analysis reveals that Japan is the world’s largest provider of international public finance for fossil fuels, providing USD 4.1 billion annually for overseas gas, oil, and coal projects between 2023 and 2025 – more than any other G20 country.

The updated data is available at energyfinance.org, alongside a first-ever publicly available carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen subsidies database.

A factsheet based on the data, Tipping the Scales: G20 & MDB clean energy finance overtakes fossil fuel finance, by Oil Change International and Friends of the Earth United States, highlights that a handful of bad actors are blocking a just transition to renewable energy with outsized support for fossil fuels.

This finding is a stark contrast to overall G20 and Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) international finance for clean energy surpassing fossil fuel finance for the first time.

Public finance for fossil fuels from G20 countries’ development finance institutions (DFIs) and export credit agencies (ECAs) and multilateral development banks (MDBs) averaged at least USD 36.3 billion a year between 2023 and 2025, compared to USD 52.7 billion for clean energy during the same time period. Still, clean energy finance is nowhere near the scale needed to deliver a globally just transition that keeps temperatures rising as close as possible to below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, nor is it flowing to where it is most needed, with just 2% flowing to low-income countries.

Key findings: 

• Japan is the largest international fossil fuel financier among G20 countries. Between 2023 and 2025, Japan spent USD 4.1 billion annually on fossil fuel projects outside of Japan. 55% was for fossil gas, followed by 26% for oil, 14% for coal, and 4% for mixed oil and gas.
• Japan also financed 2.3 billion USD annually for clean energy, behind Germany and South Korea. This shows Japan has the capacity to finance the clean energy transition and has room to do far more by shifting its public finance away from fossil fuels.

Makiko Arima, Senior Finance Campaigner at Oil Change International, said: 

Japan stands out as the world’s top international public financier of fossil fuels. Japan is driving fossil fuel expansion at a time when the dangers of relying on volatile fossil fuels are all too clear. Japan must end its financing for fossil fuels and shift support to renewable energy to help countries achieve lasting energy security and avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

• Japan ranks as the second-largest provider of fossil finance overall with USD 4.5 billion annually between 2023 and 2025. Canada is the leading public financer, but all of its financing is domestic.
• Of Japan’s overall USD 4.5 billion annual fossil fuel finance, USD 4.1 billion went to support international fossil fuel projects, with the remaining 400 million supporting domestic fossil fuel infrastructure.
• The data is also available for download on Oil Change International’s energyfinance.org database. The database tracks energy finance from governments’ export credit agencies (ECAs), development finance institutions (DFIs), national development banks (NDBs), the major multilateral development banks (MDBs), as well as domestic carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen subsidies.
• Our data is free and publicly available to make sure G20 governments can be held accountable to their promises to build a liveable and just future.