'To put this number into perspective: $162 billion could instead have created millions of green jobs, funded the energy transition of entire countries, or financed nature restoration on a planetary scale.
Fossil fuel expansion threatens energy security and is financially irresponsible
Contrary to the narrative often used to justify new fossil fuel projects, expanding coal, oil, and gas infrastructure does not improve energy security—in fact, it does the opposite. Existing fossil fuel projects, combined with renewable energy sources, provide more than enough to meet today’s and tomorrow’s needs. Pouring billions into new fossil infrastructure locks economies into volatile markets and exposes banks to geopolitical risks tied to fossil fuel-exporting regimes. It delays the essential shift to clean, decentralised, more democratic and resilient energy systems.
True energy security means building diverse, renewable-based energy systems that reduce dependence on finite resources and unstable suppliers—something fossil fuel expansion actively undermines. Banks that persist in funnelling billions into fossil expansion are gambling with their own balance sheets, their investors’ futures, and the planet’s stability.
A moral failure to frontline communities and future generations
The continued expansion of fossil financing is not only a policy failure – it is a moral failure. Around the world, people at the frontline are already paying the price: losing lives to heatwaves and wildfires, crops to droughts and homes to floods. These are often the people that contributed least to the climate crisis but are hit the hardest. Meanwhile, every new barrel of oil or metre of gas pipeline locks in emissions that shape the lives of generations yet to come. Future generations will look back and ask what we did with the power we had. We have a chance, and a responsibility to answer with courage and care – because the solutions are within reach.
Make those that profit from pollution pay for it
We need a financial sector that aligns with a future we want — not the one we must leave behind. That means finance must shift away from fossil fuels and towards real solutions such as renewable energy and nature restoration. This transformation won’t happen on goodwill alone. It has become clear that voluntary self-regulation does not work. Moreover, regulation that is (solely) aimed at transparency and reporting is not enough for the required pace of change.
Strong leadership is needed that ensures that private gains of fossil finance that only benefit a small group do not end up as public costs for society. This means ringfencing fossil fuel finance and simply making those that profit from pollution pay:
- Climate damages levy on new fossil fuel infrastructure finance. These levies can be pooled into a Loss and Damage Fund for affected communities.
- Mandatory climate risk capital buffers. Less direct but this reduces the chance that fossil risk ends up as a bailout burden when assets inevitably become stranded.
- Windfall tax on fossil finance profits. For profits that are excessive and unearned. For example, bumper profits because of rising oil prices due to wars or pandemics.
Now is the time for governments to act boldly, for banks to align with science, and for the public to demand an end to fossil finance. The future cannot – and must not – be financed with yesterday’s logic.'