Coal it a day: time for US banks to stop banking on coal expansion

A report by Reclaim Finance reveals that in spite of their net-zero pledges, US banks continue to finance developers of new coal projects.  

This report analyzes US banks’ support to the coal industry and to coal developers more specifically. It assesses the gaps in their coal policies and provides recommendations for immediate action. 

US banks remain the biggest supporters of the coal industry, second only to Chinese banks. The report lays out how seven years after the Paris Agreement, although the urgency to stop developing new coal projects has been relentlessly emphasized by climate science and widely echoed by prominent figures such as the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, US banks have kept on providing substantial financial resources to coal developers. This means that they continuously support major coal developers with terrible human rights records such as Glencore and Adani, whose coal expansion plans not only run the risk of costing the world its climate objectives, but also have an immediate disastrous impact on the environment and on local communities. 

While 42 financial institutions worldwide have already adopted policies to stop providing financial services to companies planning to build new coal assets, US banks have adopted policies that still allow new financing to companies developing coal projects. Indeed, an assessment of the banks’ coal policies reveals that their shortcomings leave the door open for funds to reach coal developers almost without restraint.  

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) was launched in April 2021. Although the banks assessed in the report joined the banking component of the alliance, the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), it did not seem to bring a significant change to their practices. Indeed research has uncovered significant transactions from the banks to coal developers since joining the alliance. This includes for instance two loans of US$503 million each from Citi, an NZBA founding signatory, to Mitsubishi, which is developing the controversial Vung Ang II 1200 MW coal plant in Vietnam, or the underwriting of US$788 worth of shares by JPMorgan Chase for Vedanta Resources which is developing a new coal mine in India with a capacity of 6 million tonnes per year.  

While banks have expressed their concerns over climate change and taken net zero commitments, is has clearly not been enough to stop them from financing coal developers. US banks need to step up and get out of coal.  

The report urges US banks to immediately: 

• End all support for coal projects, including coal-fired power plants, mines, and other associated infrastructure. This also involves stopping support to any retrofit of existing coal plants that extends their lifetime, or to sales of coal assets to new owners who intend to continue operating them.  
• Exclude companies developing or planning to expand their activities in the thermal coal sector (mining, electricity, infrastructure, and services). Companies that extend the lifespan of existing coal-fired power plants following their modernization or that sell services and equipment supporting the expansion of the sector should also be excluded.  

• Exclude companies that generate more than 20% of their revenues or electricity generation from coal and companies that produce more than 10 million tonnes of coal per year or have more than 5GW of coal capacity, and commit to lowering these thresholds to zero by the appropriate deadline.  
• Commit to end all financial services and phase out exposure to the entire coal value chain in the OECD and European by 2030 and globally by 2040; and require all companies remaining in the portfolio to adopt by 2024 phase-out plans with facility-by-facility closure dates with just transition plans, including the funding of worker and environmental obligations. 
• Refrain from including exceptions that weaken policies.