Global Banks Directed $906 Billion to Fossil Fuels in 2025
Financial institutions provided billions to the coal value chain while fossil fuel expander funding rose by 27 percent.
Updated on Sept. 30, 2026 in Financial Services
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Global banks funneled $906 billion into fossil fuel companies in 2025, marking an 8 percent increase over the previous year. Financing for fossil fuel expanders saw a significant rise of 27 percent, reaching $508 billion.
Why it matters
The continued influx of capital into fossil fuel sectors highlights a disconnect between global climate commitments and active investment strategies. While some institutions are scaling back, the overall upward trend in financing remains a central tension in the transition away from carbon-intensive energy.
Global annual coal finance remained steady at $117 billion, with Chinese banks accounting for 62 percent of this total. Meanwhile, US banks increased their coal financing by 23 percent, rising from $13.6 billion in 2022 to $16.7 billion in 2025.
The players
Barclays
A major multinational bank that increased its coal financing from $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion in 2025.
HSBC
A global financial services organization that more than doubled its coal financing to $414 million in 2025.
The details
Banks provided this capital through a combination of lending and underwriting decisions to companies operating within the coal value chain. Although over a third of major financial institutions decreased their overall fossil fuel spending in 2025, others like Barclays and HSBC significantly increased their individual coal financing commitments.
Timeline
2016 marked the signing of the Paris Agreement.
2022 served as the baseline for financing comparisons following the COP26 conference in Glasgow.
2025 recorded the latest annual data for global bank fossil fuel financing.
Market Landscape
The divergence between European banks, which have cut coal financing by 46 percent, and US banks, which have increased theirs by 23 percent, indicates a fragmented approach to ESG implementation. This uneven landscape highlights how regional regulatory environments shape the global competition for energy sector capital.
While these figures reflect large-scale corporate lending, they influence the stability of energy markets that ultimately dictate fuel prices and utility costs for consumers. Customers may find that their personal banking choices have an indirect link to the broader financing strategies of the institutions they use for daily transactions.
The takeaway
The data demonstrates that despite high-profile sustainability pledges, a significant portion of global capital continues to flow toward fossil fuel expansion. Readers can review their own banking institution’s public ESG reports to determine how their deposits align with broader industry trends.
Further reading
Explore more industry trends and analyses in Financial Services.
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Should major banks be required to stop financing coal and other fossil fuel projects?
