Research

The 16th annual Banking on Climate Chaos (BOCC) report covers the world’s top 65 banks’ lending and underwriting to over 2,700 fossil fuel companies. While the world’s top scientists from the International Energy Agency (IEA) repeatedly state that there is no need for a single new oil field, tanker, pipeline, or any fossil fuel expansion whatsoever, banks ignore climate risk and increase finance for dirty energy companies expanding their sector. This is amidst a rapid retreat from climate commitments many of these banks made at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021.

Oil Change International provided input to support the U.N. Special Rapporteur in assessing the impact of public finance within the current international legal framework governing the fossil fuel-based economy.

A handful of wealthy countries are still funding fossil fuels instead of climate action, giving 3.6 times more public money to prop up fossil fuels than they’re giving to developing countries to address climate change.

New analysis released today at the COP21 climate negotiations reveals that G7 countries along with Australia spend 40 times more on support for fossil fuel production than they do in contributions to the Green Climate Fund.

But as shown in a briefing released by Oil Change International today, while Annex 2 (developed) countries continue to debate how to honor their commitment to provide $100 billion each year by 2020 to help developing countries reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts, these same countries are providing five times more public support for fossil fuel production and consumption than they have so far pledged in climate finance. These fossil fuel subsidies are driving the global growth in greenhouse gas emissions and therefore directly undermining investments to reduce climate impacts.

Here in Doha for the UN climate negotiations, we've just released new analysis that shows that fossil fuel subsidies in rich countries are, on average, five times greater than those same countries' pledges towards climate finance.