Financing Glencore: European banks still backing coal expansion

The report identifies that between January 2024 and April 2025, twenty major banks, including nine European institutions, participated in 12 Glencore bond issuances totaling US$8 billion. These funds, intended for general corporate purposes, can support Glencore's 17 coal mining expansions across Australia, South Africa, Canada, Russia, and Kazakhstan, which contradicts IEA climate scenarios. The report argues that European banks continue this support through policy loopholes such as inadequate exclusion thresholds and restrictions that only apply to new customers or project-level financing.

• Glencore is expanding its coal capacity through 17 thermal and metallurgical coal mining projects in Australia, South Africa, Canada, Russia, and Kazakhstan, which contradicts International Energy Agency (IEA) climate scenarios projecting a decline in global coal production.
• Between January 2024 and April 2025, twenty major banks participated in 12 Glencore bond issuances totaling US$8 billion; nine of these are European banks: Barclays, BBVA, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, ING, Santander, Standard Chartered, and UBS.
• European banks utilize policy loopholes to continue financing Glencore, including exemptions, restrictions limited to new customers, or thresholds that only apply to project-level financing. Specifically, only HSBC and ING have metallurgical coal restrictions, but these are limited to project-level financing.

APA

Manickawasagar, A. (2025). Financing Glencore: European banks still backing coal expansion. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/05/21/financing-glencore-european-banks-still-backing-coal-expansion/

Chicago

Manickawasagar, Aatiraï. Financing Glencore: European banks still backing coal expansion. Reclaim Finance, 2025. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/05/21/financing-glencore-european-banks-still-backing-coal-expansion/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Manickawasagar |first1=Aatiraï |title=Financing Glencore: European banks still backing coal expansion |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=20 May 2025 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/05/21/financing-glencore-european-banks-still-backing-coal-expansion/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{manickawasagar2025financing, author = {Manickawasagar, Aatiraï}, title = {{Financing Glencore: European banks still backing coal expansion}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2025}, month = may, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/05/21/financing-glencore-european-banks-still-backing-coal-expansion/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }