September 8, 2026, Paris – The European Central Bank is fueling biodiversity loss by enabling financing for companies with fossil fuel activities in critical biodiversity areas, according to new research published today [1]. Reclaim Finance found the ECB both holds assets in its portfolios, and accepts assets as collateral, from companies whose fossil fuel activities threaten important areas for nature. The ECB also allows the banks that it supervises to finance activities that pose a risk to biodiversity, with US$161 billion in support for these companies between 2021 and 2025. Reclaim Finance highlights the ECB's failure to recognize the impacts of fossil fuels on biodiversity and calls for it to end support for companies whose activities damage critical ecosystems.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is failing to ensure that its own monetary policy and the wider banking system address the risks to biodiversity from fossil fuels [2], despite having recognized that healthy ecosystems are essential for financial and price stability [3].
Reclaim Finance looked at whether ECB policies enable financing for 80 companies identified as posing a risk to critical biodiversity areas because of their fossil fuel activities [4].
It found that one in 10 bonds in the ECB's corporate monetary portfolios [5] were tied to companies with fossil fuel activities in critical biodiversity areas as recently as May 2026. The ECB held bonds from 15 companies [6] including TotalEnergies, whose East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project threatens key areas such as the Wembere Steppe in Tanzania – a vital area for birdlife –, and BP, whose Tangguh LNG project in the Coral Triangle threatens a global epicenter for marine biodiversity.
ECB policies are also boosting the value of companies whose activities pose a biodiversity risk in critical areas, with banks allowed to pledge assets from 20 of these companies as collateral in the last 18 months. This included assets from several oil majors, as well as gas transport and storage companies [7].
The European Central Bank is paying increasing attention to nature, but it is ignoring the impacts of fossil fuels on biodiversity. It makes no sense to recognize biodiversity is essential for financial and price stability while at the same time enabling financing for companies involved in fossil fuel activities which threaten some of the most critical areas around the world. The ECB must urgently fix its approach.
Clarisse Murphy, Reclaim Finance central banks campaigner
The analysis found that although the ECB claims to be taking nature-related risks increasingly into account [8], its failure to address the root causes of biodiversity loss has prevented it from ensuring that EU-banks take appropriate measures to prevent their financing from harming biodiversity. Thirty-three of the major banks under its supervision provided US$161 billion to companies with fossil fuel activities in critical biodiversity areas between 2021 and 2025 [9].
Reclaim Finance is calling on the ECB to update its approach to nature and end all support to companies whose fossil fuel activities endanger critical ecosystems. It urges the ECB to recognize the role the fossil fuel activities play in driving biodiversity loss, and to exclude companies with fossil fuels activities in critical biodiversity areas from monetary policy tools, while also setting expectations for banks under its supervision to end support for these companies.
