Environment

Ecowatch - According to the new Banking on Climate Chaos Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2024, the largest banks in the world have given $6.9 trillion in fossil fuel funding to the industry since the 2016 Paris Agreement. The goal of the Paris Agreement — signed by 196 countries — is to limit human-caused global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by lowering carbon dioxide emissions. However, contrary to their pledges, private interests in many countries have kept funding the operations of fossil fuel companies, which have continued to expand, reported The Guardian. The impacts of climate change most often affect vulnerable communities who are the least responsible for it. .... For the 15th edition of the report, the researchers looked at the underwriting and lending of the biggest 60 banks globally to more than 4,200 oil, gas and coal firms that were causing environmental destruction in the Arctic and Amazon, The Guardian reported. They discovered that, of the nearly $7 trillion given to the companies, almost half supported the expansion of fossil fuel development.