{"id":39405,"date":"2026-03-27T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T07:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reclaimfinance.org\/site\/?p=39405"},"modified":"2026-03-26T16:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T15:19:14","slug":"european-banks-bonding-with-oil-and-gas-expansion-an-analysis-of-2025-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reclaimfinance.org\/site\/en\/2026\/03\/27\/european-banks-bonding-with-oil-and-gas-expansion-an-analysis-of-2025-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"European banks bonding with oil and gas expansion: an analysis of 2025 and beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between 2021 and 2025, 19 o<\/span>f the<\/span>\u00a0largest European banks\u00a0<\/span>facilitated<\/span>\u00a0the issuance of 2<\/span>16<\/span>\u00a0bonds<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>from the capital markets<\/span>\u00a0for companies developing new upstream and midstream oil and gas\u00a0<\/span>projects<\/span>, helping<\/span>\u00a0them<\/span>\u00a0to raise \u20ac2<\/span>19<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>billion<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>2025 has been the year<\/span>\u00a0in which Eu<\/span>ropean banks\u00a0<\/span>participated<\/span>\u00a0in the\u00a0<\/span>largest number<\/span>\u00a0of bond<\/span>\u00a0issuances<\/span>\u00a0for these companies<\/span>, despite the\u00a0<\/span>finding of the International Energy Agency<\/span>\u00a0that\u00a0<\/span>no new\u00a0<\/span>oil and gas fields<\/span>\u00a0are needed in scenarios that<\/span>\u00a0limit<\/span>\u00a0global warming to 1.5\u00b0C<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>The\u00a0<\/span>five\u00a0<\/span>Europe<\/span>an banks\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span>facilit<\/span>at<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>most bond issuances<\/span>\u00a0for\u00a0<\/span>major\u00a0<\/span>oil and gas developers<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>in 2025 were\u00a0<\/span>Barclays, Deutsche Bank, BBVA, Santander and Standard Chartered<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Banks must<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>discontinue<\/span>\u00a0their financial support to companies expanding their oil and gas operations, both through lending and capital market activities (CMAs)<\/span>\u00a0along the whole value chain<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

The bond market has become\u00a0a\u00a0critical source of financing for the world\u2019s most polluting companies.\u00a0The\u00a0<\/span>Banking on Climate Chaos<\/i><\/a><\/span>\u00a0report found that over the past decade, the share of bonds in the funding strategies of fossil fuel companies has nearly doubled\u00a0and\u00a0that\u00a0in both 2023 and 2024, 51% of\u00a0bank finance\u00a0for companies involved in fossil fuel expansion was raised through corporate bonds.\u00a0<\/span>By\u00a0facilitating\u00a0bond issuances, banks play a critical role in enabling\u00a0fossil fuel\u00a0companies to raise the capital necessary<\/span>\u00a0to\u00a0further\u00a0develop their\u00a0operations.\u00a0European banks are no exception.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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European banks bonding with oil and gas expansion<\/h2><\/span>
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Reclaim Finance analyzed the participation of the 24 largest European banks in bonds issued by over 30 of the largest upstream and midstream oil and gas developers between 2021 and 2025 (1). 19 of these banks participated in bonds issued during the period analyzed. They were involved in 216 bond issuances, helping some of the world\u2019s worst polluters to raise a total of \u20ac219 billion from the capital markets.<\/p>\n

Since 2022, the number of bonds issued in which European banks were involved has increased steadily and sharply. In 2025, European banks participated in the highest number of bond issuances since 2021, helping to raise \u20ac60 billion for the companies analyzed. Last year has thus been the second-largest year after 2024 in terms of total bond financing volume since 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Among European banks, Barclays participated in the highest number of bond issuances in 2025 (42), through which major oil and gas developers were able to raise a total of \u20ac32 billion on the bond market. Among the companies profiting from Barclays\u2019 support is Energy Transfer, the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which became notorious due to the strong mobilization of the Standing Rock Sioux and their supporters against the pipeline and the violence against them. Energy Transfer is behind a SLAPP suit against Greenpeace, and the company\u2019s CEO, Kelcy Warren, has donated millions of dollars to all of Donald Trump\u2019s electoral campaigns (2).<\/p>\n

Closely following Barclays in terms of the number of bonds and the volume of finance raised through those bonds for major oil and gas companies in 2025 are Deutsche Bank, BBVA, Santander and Standard Chartered. In 2024, Deutsche Bank, BBVA and Standard Chartered were also amongst the top 5, accompanied by Banque Populaire Caisse d\u2019Epargne (BPCE)\u2019s corporate investment bank Natixis, and HSBC.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Capital Market Activities: European banks\u2019 climate policy blind spot<\/h2><\/span>
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While most major European banks have targets that would supposedly reduce their lending to oil and gas companies (\u201cfinanced emission targets\u201d), only three \u2014 Standard Chartered, Barclays and HSBC \u2014 have targets that cover their facilitation of bond and equity issuances to oil and gas companies. Barclays and HSBC aggregate their lending and facilitation activities into combined targets. Standard Chartered has taken the better approach of separating these targets, which supports transparency and promotes efforts to reduce both forms of finance.<\/p>\n

The formula used to calculate \u201cfacilitated emissions\u201d unfortunately makes it an inappropriate metric for setting capital markets targets as it does not provide a direct link between changes in facilitated emissions and in real-world corporate emissions. The formula attributes corporate emissions to banks using a fraction which divides corporate emissions by corporate value. This means that a bank\u2019s facilitated emissions will decline as corporate values increase, even if real-world emissions stay constant or even rise slightly (3). The formula for calculating \u201cfinanced emissions\u201d from loans and investments suffers from the same flaw when used to set targets (4).<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Recommendations: corporate exclusion policies & impactful decarbonization targets<\/h2><\/span>
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In 2024, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole and BNP Paribas\u00a0both\u00a0committed to no longer participating in bond issuances by oil and gas producers<\/a><\/span>.<\/span> BNP Paribas does not appear in bank syndicates for bonds issued by the companies analyzed for 2025 and so appears to be complying with their policy. Cr\u00e9dit Agricole appears in several 2025 bond issuances by midstream oil and gas developers, including Energy Transfer, exemplifying the need for the bank to extend its commitment to the midstream sector, as well as applying this commitment to their direct lending activities to demonstrate the sincerity of their commitment. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BNP Paribas\u2019 and Cr\u00e9dit Agricole\u2019s commitments set an example for other banks to follow, but all of them must go further. The International Energy Agency\u2019s projections show that opening up new oil and gas fields is incompatible with meeting the 1.5\u00b0C target, and that energy needs can be met without these new developments (5). Therefore, banks must stop financial support for all companies expanding their oil and gas operations, including Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), through lending and capital market activities.<\/p>\n

Additionally, both lending and capital markets targets should aim to reduce the volume of financing provided to O&G companies, not their financed or facilitated emissions as normally defined. To date, only BNP Paribas, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole, Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale, and ING have adopted such \u201csectoral portfolio financing volume\u201d (SPFV) targets. These SPFV targets currently apply only to banks\u2019 credit exposure and are limited to the upstream part of the value chain. They now need to be applied to CMAs as well, and to the value chain in its entirety.<\/p>\n

As this analysis has shown, it is urgently necessary that banks effectively address the emissions linked to both their lending activities and CMAs, including the bonds they structure for oil and gas developers. SPFV targets should serve banks as a blueprint to set targets to reduce the volume of their financing for oil and gas companies provided via the capital markets, in addition to exclusion policies for financial support to oil and gas developers that cover loans, bonds and the entire value chain.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Notes:<\/h3><\/span>
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  1. For a detailed list\u00a0and\u00a0methodology<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>of comp<\/span>anies\u00a0<\/span>monitored<\/span>, visit\u00a0<\/span>Reclaim\u00a0<\/span>Finance\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>No More Toxic Bonds website<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Greenpeace,\u00a0<\/span>A brief history of Kelcy Warren and Donald Trump<\/a><\/span>\u00a0[last\u00a0accessed\u00a02.3.2026]\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Reclaim Finance,\u00a0Targetting\u00a0Net Zero:\u00a0<\/span>The need to redesign bank decarbonization targets<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0September\u00a02024<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. The jump in\u00a0oil and gas company\u00a0share\u00a0prices following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine steeply reduced banks\u2019 oil and gas financed emissions. This allowed\u00a0banks\u00a0to meet 2030\u00a0financed emission\u00a0reduction targets (typically cuts of 25\u201350%) in the early 2020s,\u00a0without\u00a0notable reductions\u00a0of\u00a0finance to oil and gas companies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. IEA,\u00a0<\/span>World Energy Outlook 2025<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

    Read also<\/h2><\/div>
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