$385 Billion for Coal

Over the past 3 years banks have been channeling $385 billion to the coal industry. While loans and underwriting activities of the almost 650 commercial banks covered in this research dropped from $132 billion in 2022 to $123 billion in 2023, they shot back up to $130 billion in 2024.

Coal Financing Since Glasgow

$132 B
2022
$123 B
2023
$130 B
2024
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Countdown to 2030

The science is clear: The latest Net Zero Roadmap of the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns that coal use needs to end by 2030 in advanced economies and by 2040 globally. Yet despite these rapidly approaching deadlines, many banks continue to finance coal. It’s like trying to chain-smoke every last cigarette before your quit date. And it's getting worse: between 2022 and 2024, bank financing for companies expanding their coal business surged by 30%.

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Pigeon flying over a coal mine
Ptolemaida coal mine in Greece, Credits: Anna Pantelia

Global Coal Exit List

This research is based on our Global Coal Exit List (GCEL). GCEL provides key metrics on 2,800 companies whose activities range from coal mining, coal trading and transport to the conversion of coal to liquids, the operation of coal-fired power stations and the manufacturing of equipment for new coal plants. It is the most comprehensive public database of companies that operate along the thermal coal value chain.

Global Coal Exit List
Coal mining from above / Mark Agnor, Shutterstock
Coal mining from above, Credits: Mark Agnor, Shutterstock

Fossil Fuel Banks

Climate-fueled disasters are taking a devastating toll around the world, year after year. Fossil fuel companies are still making record profits and banks continue financing fossil fuel expansion. The joint NGO report Banking on Climate Chaos examines the world’s top 65 banks by assets. It ranks them based on the fossil fuel financing – lending and underwriting – they have provided since 2016.

Banking on Climate Chaos mainly uses Urgewald's Global Coal Exit List and its Global Oil & Gas Exit List to determine relevant fossil fuel companies.

Banking on Climate Chaos
Banking on Climate Chaos Report Cover
Credits: Rainforest Action Network 2025