8 April 2026 – European banks have increased financing for new gas power plant developers since 2021, backing reliance on gas despite high costs for consumers, health risks for communities and global climate impacts according to new analysis from Reclaim Finance [1]. As gas prices soar as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, the report finds that 24 European banks poured US$ 42 billion into expanding gas power between 2021 and 2024. Reclaim Finance is urging European banks to adopt robust policies to exclude financing for gas power developers.
In the face of clear evidence of the price risks linked to relying on gas for power generation, with gas price shocks a recurrent theme even before the US-Israel-Iran war [2], European banks increased the amount of finance flowing to the biggest global gas power developers by 6% year-on year from 2021 – 2024, providing US$ 42 billion in total. This facilitated the planned development of more than 320 gas power plants worldwide.
Seven French and UK banks account for 63% of this total financing [3], which will lock-in dependance on gas around the world for decades to come [4]. UK bank Barclays was the biggest source of finance for companies developing new gas power plants (25%), followed by French bank BNP Paribas
Reclaim Finance says the banks are turning a blind eye to the social and environmental costs of relying on gas power plants, with electricity prices experiencing sharp increases in response to international tensions, and gas increasingly used as a geopolitical weapon [5].
Banks are also failing to recognize the risks to health, with a growing body of evidence showing that generating electricity from gas leads to increases in cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as increases in cancer rates [6]. Pollution from gas power plants has been calculated to have caused some 2684 excess deaths in Europe (EU 27 + UK) in 2019 [7].
Gas power also has significant climate impacts due to greenhouse gas emissions [8].
Banks that finance new gas power plant developers are passing the cost onto people, twice-over. First through rising energy bills as gas prices remain volatile in response to global crises, and again through the health impacts of air pollution. Recent tensions in the Middle East are a stark reminder that a system based on gas brings instability, not security. Ending financial support for gas power expansion is long overdue.
Reclaim Finance campaigner, Rémi Hermant
Despite the impacts of gas power on energy affordability, human health and on climate emissions, only French bank, La Banque Postale, has a robust sectoral policy on financing for gas power generation [9].
Reclaim Finance is urging banks to commit to ending all support for the expansion of gas power generation and to initiate a rapid phase-out of their exposure. Their commitments must result in robust policies that must include strict restrictions on the financial services they provide to gas plant developers.
