14 DAY TRIAL // Dirty coal business is still in the game mostly because it's profitable. Banks know it best, since they invest billions of dollars every year in this field of activity. A recent reports reveals that JP Morgan Chase is, by far, the most influent player, backing the coal industry with no less than $22 billion (€16.34 billion) every year.
"Bankrolling Climate Change" examines the controversial role of commercial banks that support this industry by lending significant amounts of money to important enterprises. This study is the result of a collaboration between a few environmentally-friendly organizations and the international network BankTrack.
The recent reports highlights how banks manage to accelerate climate change, displaying the names of the most keen participants from this sector.
Chase has already been criticized for its current position, but its supremacy in this field is expected to increase its profit margins. America is no stranger to coal-burning operations, and the rank reveals just that. Major banks from the US occupy hot spots in the list, linked to the rapid expansion of the global warming phenomenon.
City is the second candidate, with $18.27 billion (€13.57billion) shilled every year, and it is closely followed by the Bank of America, which spares no efforts in offering approximately $16.79 billion (€12.47 billion) to important companies on the coal market.
As renewables still wait for a considerable boost from governments all across the globe, major facilities are counting more than pocket change when it comes to old “king” coal.
The BankTrack analysis manages to point out the most eco-unfriendly banks that encourage the exploitation of resources with a high environmental footprint. It is actually the first time when an official rank shows the important connection between the activity of well-known financial institutions and their contribution to climate change.
"We chose to look into coal financing as coal-fired power plants are the biggest source of man-made CO2 emissions and the major culprit in the drama of climate change. In spite of the fact that climate change is already having severe impacts on the most vulnerable societies, there is an abundance of plans to build new coal-fired power plants. If banks provide money for these projects, they will wreck all attempts to limit global warming to 2° Celsius," explains Heffa Schuecking of Urgewald.
Even more alarming seems to be the fact that, in only five years between 2005 and 2010, coal investments have almost doubled. Nowadays, when banks and governments should join efforts to raise the competitiveness of alternative sources of energy, financial institutions are focus instead on increasing even more the profitability of coal industry.
All in all, the study could represent a very useful research material for those clients who want to find out how eco-conscious their bank really is.