www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/04/banks-pour-trillions-fossil-fuel-expansion-global-south-report-says
They found that between 2016 and 2022, those banks have provided some $3.2tn to the fossil fuel industry to expand operations in the global south.
The leading fossil fuel financiers include Chinese banks funding coal, oil and gas buildout within the nation. Top US banks like Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase have also offered trillions to Saudi Aramco, Exxon and other fossil fuel companies for fossil fuel activity in developing countries in regions such as South America and Africa.
In that same time span, the analysis says, major international banks have also loaned and underwritten at least $370bn for the expansion of global south-based industrial agriculture. Europe’s HSBC and the United States’ Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup lead the pack, offering billions of dollars to big agricultural giants like Bayer (which acquired Monsanto in 2016), ADM, Cargill and ChemChina.
Industrial agriculture is the second-most planet-heating industry globally, due to pollution from the production and use of chemical fertilizers, methane emissions from livestock, and the widespread practice of clearing carbon-sequestering greenery to make space for farms, the report explains.
“Industrial agriculture has somehow stayed out of the limelight and we feel that that needs to change for climate reasons,” said Anderson.
The research, Anderson said, highlights the disconnect between financial institutions’ public statements on climate change and their actions.
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