The world’s top 65 banks invested a total of $869 billion in the fossil fuel sector in 2024, up $162 billion from $707 billion in 2023. India’s State Bank of India (SBI) was one of about 50 major banks that increased financing in the sector compared to the previous year.
The increase in fossil fuel financing has been called “worrying” because it reinforces future dependence on fossil fuels.
According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 2024 Investment Outlook, annual investment in oil, gas and coal will need to be less than half by 2030 to achieve global net zero emissions by 2050.
The data comes from the Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2025, compiled by eight environmental organizations.
However, India’s SBI bank’s share in total financing was relatively small. SBI financed fossil fuels in 2024 by just $6.5 million more than the previous year, taking the total to $2.62 billion. As a result, the bank moved up from 49th place to 47th place in the list. SBI’s total fossil fuel financing from 2021 to 2024 was $10.6 billion.
The list was topped by US bank JPMorgan Chase, which lent $53.5 billion to fossil fuel companies in 2024, $15 billion more than in 2023.
Bengaluru-based research firm Climate Risk Horizon said that Indian banks are still lagging behind in financing the coal sector. Of the top 1,000 banks listed on the BSE in March 2024, only two – Federal Bank and RBL Bank – have explicitly adopted a coal divestment policy.
According to them, coal is no longer economically cheap. Renewable energy and storage technologies are now able to deliver electricity at or below the cost of coal.
The report says that the increase in bank financing of fossil fuels in 2024 is due to the relaxation of exclusion policies and the retreat from previous commitments. This was previously a North American trend, but is now spreading to European banks.
In March, US bank Wells Fargo announced that it was abandoning its plan to become net zero by 2050. A few days earlier, President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate agreement in an executive order, which will take effect at the beginning of 2026. As a result, the United States will stand with Iran, Libya and Yemen, which are not yet part of the Paris agreement.
Banks’ fossil fuel financing increased in 2024, which is the opposite of the trend of previous years. A total of $3.3 trillion has been financed in the fossil fuel business since 2021. Since the Paris agreement came into effect, 65 banks have financed a total of $7.9 trillion in this sector from 2016 to 2025.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financing is expected to grow by $19.2 billion to $82.9 billion in 2024. While it does not directly create new infrastructure, it is a tool to increase the power and competitiveness of fossil fuel companies — which in turn prolongs energy dependence.
Source: Indian Express.