Coal Financing Since Glasgow: $20 billion
European banks have channeled $20 billion to the coal industry since Glasgow. Europe’s biggest coal banks are Barclays from the UK ($4 billion), Deutsche Bank from Germany ($2 billion), BNP Paribas from France ($1.5 billion), UBS from Switzerland ($1.3 billion) and Santander from Spain ($0.9 billion). While the annual coal financing volumes of BNP Paribas, Santander and UBS have steadily decreased since 2022, Deutsche Bank and Barclays have stepped up their support for the industry. These diverging financing trajectories are a direct reflection of their coal exclusion policies: While UBS excludes companies that generate over 20% of their revenues from coal mining or power, Barclays has only recently moved to a 30% threshold while Deutsche Bank is still using a 50% revenue threshold for coal divestment.
Top 5 European Coal Banks
“Barclays and Deutsche Bank need to urgently roll back their coal financing and tighten the revenue thresholds in their policies. The earlier energy companies and the finance industry transition, the easier the change. And the earlier we bring down emissions, the higher our chances of avoiding a breakdown of our climate system."
Katrin Ganswindt, Director of Financial Research at Urgewald, Germany