[rad-green] Since Paris Agreement, Global Financial Firms Have Sunk $745 Billion into New Coal Plant Development

*https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/12/10/climate-global-finance-745-billion-coal-plant-development
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/12/10/climate-global-finance-745-billion-coal-plant-development>*


*DeSmog           December 10, 2019*

Since Paris Agreement, Global Financial Firms Have Sunk $745 Billion into
New Coal Plant Development

*By Dana Drugmand <https://www.desmogblog.com/user/ddrugmand>*
[image: A protest featuring pikachu against Japanese investment in new coal
plants]

BlackRock, Vanguard, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase are among the top global
financers of new coal development, according to new research presented
during the United Nations climate summit
<https://unfccc-cop25.streamworld.de/webcast/ngo-research-reveals-top-financiers-of-new-coal-po>
 in Madrid.

That research
<https://coalexit.org/sites/default/files/download_public/COP25_PR_Logos.pdf>,
published by the German NGO Urgewald
<https://urgewald.org/who-we-are-what-we-do> along with BankTrack and 30
partner organizations, reveals and ranks the financial institutions sinking
money into the dirtiest form of fossil fuels in the three years since the
Paris Agreement was signed. The research shows
<https://www.banktrack.org/article/banks_and_investors_against_the_future>
hundreds
of billions of dollars have flowed to 258 coal plant developers between
January 2017 and September 2019 in the form of loans, investments, and
underwriting. These groups clarify underwriting as the process of banks
raising “investment capital for companies by issuing bonds or shares on
their behalf and selling them to investors.”

“Over the past three years, financial institutions have channeled $745
billion to companies planning new coal power plants,” said
<https://www.banktrack.org/article/banks_and_investors_against_the_future>
Heffa
Schuecking, director of Urgewald.

“Financial institutions are bringing us on a road to runaway climate
change,” Urgewald’s Katrin Ganswindt added
<https://unfccc-cop25.streamworld.de/webcast/ngo-research-reveals-top-financiers-of-new-coal-po>
.

Over 1,000 new coal plants totaling 570 gigawatts of capacity are currently
planned or “in the pipeline,” according to the new research. These projects
would expand the global coal plant fleet by 28 percent.

This comes at a time when the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) estimates that coal-powered generation must decrease by 78 percent
by 2030 for the world to have any chance of limiting global temperature
rise to 2.7°F (1.5°C). The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called
for no new coal plant development after 2020
<https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3075378/un-chief-calls-for-ban-on-new-coal-plants-after-2020>
.

“The UN Secretary General, the IPCC, and climate scientists worldwide have
time and again called for a speedy phase-out of coal-based energy
production, but most financial institutions are still turning a deaf ear,”
said
<https://www.banktrack.org/article/banks_and_investors_against_the_future>
 Schuecking.

While Japanese and Chinese institutions were identified as the top lenders
and underwriters of coal development over the past three
years, U.S. institutions led in terms of coal investments. BlackRock, the
research
<https://coalexit.org/sites/default/files/download_public/COP25_PR_Logos.pdf>
found,
was the top institutional investor with $17.6 billion in holdings in 86
coal plant developers. Vanguard ($12.4 billion) and Capital Group ($9
billion) ranked third and fourth.

Overall, 1,922 institutional investors held $276 billion in bonds and
shares in coal developers. U.S. investors accounted for 29 percent of this
investment. Other U.S. institutions ranked in the top 30 coal investors
include JPMorgan Chase, Fidelity Investments, and Dimensional Fund Advisors.

JPMorgan Chase also ranked in the top 30 in terms of underwriters and
lenders in coal development, as did Citigroup. For lending, Citigroup was
ranked fourth with $5.7 billion. Chinese institutions accounted for 69
percent of underwriting in coal development, but Citigroup ($8.8 billion)
and JPMorgan Chase ($6.2 billion) were still significant underwriters. A
report released earlier this year
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/03/20/jpmorgan-chase-tops-banks-financing-fossil-fuels-climate-change>
found JPMorgan
Chase to be the leading financer of fossil fuels overall, sinking $196
billion into coal, oil, and gas since 2016.

Financing for coal alone, as the new NGO research shows, is still huge and
must be addressed under the guidance of the Paris Agreement. In
November, French
insurer AXA announced
<https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/27/coal-insurer-axa-to-divest-from-fossil-fuel-investments-underwriting>
its
intention to phase out investments and underwriting of the coal industry
and its backers, which according to Urgewald’s Global Coal Exit Database,
represents nearly $664 million in investments.

“Financial institutions that continue channeling money to coal plant
developers are actively working against the Paris Climate Goals and ruining
our chances for a livable future,” said
<https://www.banktrack.org/article/banks_and_investors_against_the_future>
 Schuecking.

*Main image: A protest against Japan's investment in new coal plants at
the UN climate summit in Madrid on December 5, 2019.
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/foei/49177302066/> Credit: Victor Barro,
Friends of the Earth Japan via Friends of the Earth International
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/foei/>, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/>*

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