BANKING ON CLIMATE CHAOS 2026

The 17th edition of the Banking on Climate Chaos report finds that the world's largest banks committed $906 billion to fossil fuel companies in 2025, an 8% increase from 2024. Financing for fossil fuel expansion rose by over 27% to $508 billion. The report highlights a high concentration of finance, with a 'Dirty Dozen' of banks providing nearly 39% of global fossil deals. It also notes a trend of policy backsliding, where banks are weakening climate commitments and abandoning net-zero targets, particularly in the US. The report argues that this financing amplifies energy instability and inequality, especially during geopolitical crises like the 2026 US-Israel war on Iran.

• The world's largest 65 banks increased their total commitments to fossil fuel companies to $906 billion in 2025, representing a nearly 8% increase from 2024. Since the Paris Agreement, these banks have financed almost $9 trillion in oil, gas, and coal operations.
• Financing specifically for fossil fuel expansion surged by over 27% in one year, reaching $508 billion in 2025. This increase is particularly concentrated in midstream oil and gas projects, with a $116 billion increase in financing for midstream expansion companies compared to 2024.
• Fossil fuel financing is highly concentrated among a small group of banks and borrowers. Twelve banks, termed the 'Dirty Dozen', controlled nearly 39% of all bank fossil deals in 2025. On the borrower side, ten companies absorbed $718 billion (nearly 13%) of total fossil financing since 2021.
• JPMorgan Chase is the world's largest fossil fuel financier, committing $58.2 billion in 2025, a 12.5% increase from 2024. It provided 4.7% of total worldwide fossil fuel financing according to the BOCC+ dataset.
• Global fossil fuel financing is dominated by six financial centers: the United States, Canada, Japan, China, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, which together account for 87% of total financing. US banks provided the largest regional increase, accounting for over 32% of worldwide bank fossil fuel financing in 2025.
• There is a significant trend of bank policy backsliding in 2025 and early 2026, coinciding with the collapse of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) in October 2025. Banks such as Wells Fargo, RBC, and Scotiabank have dropped or weakened their decarbonization and net-zero targets.
• The report identifies a shift toward underwriting to move financing off bank balance sheets and avoid policy scrutiny. In 2025, the top 65 banks split financing more evenly between bond underwriting and loans compared to 2022.
• The report argues that fossil fuel dependence creates structural vulnerability and inequality, as evidenced by the 2026 US-Israel war on Iran. This conflict caused the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market, doubling wholesale gas prices in the EU and causing energy rationing in countries like Vietnam, Thailand, and Bangladesh.

APA

Reclaim Finance (2026). BANKING ON CLIMATE CHAOS 2026. https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/BOCC_2026_vFINAL.pdf

Chicago

Reclaim Finance. BANKING ON CLIMATE CHAOS 2026. 2026. https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/BOCC_2026_vFINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Reclaim Finance |title=BANKING ON CLIMATE CHAOS 2026 |date=June 2026 |url=https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/BOCC_2026_vFINAL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reclaimfinance2026banking, author = {{Reclaim Finance}}, title = {{BANKING ON CLIMATE CHAOS 2026}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2026}, month = jun, url = {https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/BOCC_2026_vFINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }