Banks in the City of London have poured more than $100 billion (£75 billion) into companies developing “carbon bombs” – huge oil, gas and coal projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global consequences.
Nine London-based banks, including HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds are involved in financing companies responsible for at least 117 carbon bomb projects in 28 countries between 2016 – the year after the landmark Paris agreement was signed – and 2023, according to the study.
If the projects go ahead, the study says they will have the potential to produce 420 billion tonnes of carbon emissions, equivalent to more than 10 years of current global carbon dioxide emissions.
“Despite the UK’s seemingly ambitious climate plans, it is astonishing how much money has flowed from UK banks to companies worldwide developing the biggest climate-wrecking and damaging projects since 2016,” said Fatima Eisam-Eldeen, a lead analyst at the Leave It in the Ground Initiative, the climate thinktank that produced the study.
The UK is a key financial hub for destructive fossil fuel mega-projects, financing companies that are involved in more than a quarter of the carbon bombs identified across the globe.