Australia’s big four banks — ANZ, NAB, CommBank and Westpac — have poured a combined $61 billion into fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement was signed eight years ago, a new report found.
Despite recent changes to lending, the report says banks have “continued greenwashing”, leaving banking customers “very concerned”.
Last year was the first of the last eight that the big four banks did not explicitly fund new or expanding fossil fuel projects.
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But they still pumped $3.6 billion into the industry in 2023, the Banking Climate Failure report from environmental advocacy group Market Forces said on Tuesday.
The report spotlighted how big banks can bankroll their fossil fuel clients using means other than direct loans.
“General purpose corporate lending and bonds are increasingly being used as backdoor financing options for companies pursuing new coal, oil and gas developments,” the report said.
“The big four banks are engaged in a monumental facade as long as they continue undermining a safe climate by funnelling billions to companies steaming ahead with more coal, oil and gas.”
‘ANZ takes the cake’ over decades
Of the big four banks, the Market Forces report author and banks analyst Kyle Robertson said: “ANZ takes the cake as the biggest funder of fossil fuels.”
It was behind $20 billion in fossil fuel loans in the eight years since the Paris Agreement.
“In 2023, ANZ loaned $903 million to companies pursuing new and expanded coal, oil and gas, more than any of the other big four banks,” the report said.
But the bank also offered the largest example of the “backdoor financing” — arranging $1.5 billion in bonds for fossil fuels, out of the $2.2 billion in bonds arranged for fossil fuel companies by the big four banks in 2023.
An ANZ spokesperson told 7NEWS.com.au that the bank was “not surprised to be mentioned, given we are the largest domestic lender to Australia’s energy sector”.
“It’s important to remember this is the most carbon intensive part of our economy, and financing its transition to net-zero will require significant capital.”
“Our financed emissions included in our emissions reduction pathways for the power generation, oil and gas and thermal coal sectors have reduced by 25, 30 and 96 per cent respectively, between 2020 and 2023.”
The bank said that it had ”questions about the methodology of the report”, though the methodology outlined that banks “were given an opportunity to comment on financing attributed to them, none disputed participation in the deals featured in this dataset”.
Climate receipts for NAB, CommBank, and Westpac
In 2023, the banks offered loans and bonds to a number of companies pursuing climate-harming projects globally, the report found.
Japan’s largest power company, JERA, pursuing harmful gas developments, was the recipient of big four bank-funding, as was Australia’s gas pipeline company, APA Group, which is proposing a pipeline connection to the NT Beetaloo Basin fracking project.
Funding also went to Santos, which is pursuing new gas developments in Australia and Papua New Guinea; BHP, with its expanding coal projects; and Glencore, which is pursuing the “largest coal mine proposal ever put forward in NSW.”
NAB is actively addressing shareholder concerns over greenwashing, but still came out as the “the biggest Australian fossil fuel lender in 2023” within the Market Forces analysis.
“NAB loaned $1.4 billion to fossil fuels in 2023, including $860 million to companies with coal, oil and gas expansion plans,” the report said.
7NEWS.com.au has contacted NAB for comment.
Westpac was the third-biggest fossil fuel lender in 2023, according to the report, which outlines $533 million loaned to companies expanding fossil fuels, including oil and gas giants JERA and APA Group.
A Westpac spokesperson told 7NEWS.com.au that 90 per cent of its shareholders were happy with the bank’s climate action plan, and noted a seven per cent decline in exposure to industries in the fossil fuel energy chain in the year to September 2023.
“Westpac has set emissions targets in a range of sectors including thermal coal mining and upstream oil and gas, and we’re working with customers on their transition to a net-zero future.”
CommBank lent more to fossil fuel in 2023 than it did in 2022, showing “stagnated” progress, but still lent the least of the big four banks with $271 million.
7NEWS.com.au has contacted CommBank for comment.