14 DAY TRIAL // Environmental groups Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, and BankTrack have recently released a new report documenting the financing that the coal industry benefited from in 2013 and that banks are to thank for.
In this report, the three organizations detail that, last year, investment banks provided over $31 billion (approximately €22.44 billion) in financing for companies that are in the business of making a profit by exploiting coal resources in the United States.
“In 2013, investment banks poured $31.7 billion [about €22.95 billion] in financing into the worst-of-the-worst US coal mining and coal-fired power companies,” Rainforest Action Network writes.
Eco Watch informs that, according to said three environmental groups, American multinational financial services corporation Citigroup was by far coal's biggest fan last year.
Thus, this corporation is said to have provided coal-fired power plants scattered across the United States' territory with $6.5 billion (roughly €4.7 billion) in loans and underwriting in 2013, the same source details.
Multinational banking and financial services company Barclays, on the other hand, is argued to have been the top financier of mountaintop removal coal mining. Specifically, the company is said to have supported such practices with investments of up to $550 million (approximately €398.23 million).
Together with other corporations and companies that offered to support the coal industry back in 2013, Citigroup and Barclays are argued to have contributed to the destruction of natural ecosystems. Besides, the green groups claim that many of these investments failed to yield the expected benefits.
As Rainforest Action Network puts it, “These extreme investments have yielded extreme consequences ranging from spills of coal ash that contaminated public water supplies to bankruptcies that left banks on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The good news is that, although the coal industry appears to still have quite a lot of fans, several investment banks have taken steps towards distancing themselves from this branch of the energy sector, Sierra Club, BankTrack, and Rainforest Action Network claim.
Thus, banks such as Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are said to have implemented measures intended to drastically curb their financial support for mountaintop removal coal mining. Consequently, they both got a “B” on the report cards issued by the three environmental groups.
Commenting on the findings of this latest report concerning the links between the coal and the banking industry, Ben Collins with Rainforest Action Network said, “The gap is widening between banks who have cut ties with extreme coal companies and those still holding on to those risky relationships.”
Furthermore, “Leading banks are beginning to plan for a carbon-constrained future by moving away from companies that contaminate public water supplies, threaten our climate, and increasingly put shareholders at risk. At this point any company still banking on coal has its head in the sand.”