5 Things to Know: Why Big Banks Still Haven’t Passed the Coal Test

By Alison Kirsch

MorganStanleyWellsFargo_v2_FB_(2).pngRainforest Action Network released a new report today about the big banks profiting off of coal. Here are five things you need to know from The Coal Test: Where Banks Stand on Climate at COP 21—one piece of good news, and four that make it clear why ultimately, big banks continue to fail the coal test:

  1. In the last six months, four of the six biggest U.S. banks have stepped away from coal mining. Three of Europe’s major banks covered in this report have made similar commitments. This is incredible movement in the financial sector, which won’t do the right thing unless it’s forced to!

  2. But historically, the biggest banks in the U.S. and Europe are also the world’s biggest coal banks. The top five coal-financing banks since 2009 are Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland, BNP Paribas, and Bank of America.

  3. Between the 2009 U.N. climate negotiations in Copenhagen and this year’s in Paris, big banks have supported the coal industry with a quarter of a trillion dollars—while at the same time lauding themselves as climate leaders.

  4. Need context? That’s 2.5 times as much as they’ve financed renewable energy in the same time period.

  5. Banks are moving away from coal—at a snail’s pace. There are still no true leaders. Not a single one of the world’s biggest banks have pledged to phase out finance for the entire coal industry—a necessary step toward a liveable climate. To pass the test, big banks must take the Paris Pledge to quit coal.

Read and download the report: ran.org/coaltest