Climate campaigners have called out what they described as the Dirty Dozen of global banking institutions which are financing the sizable majority of fossil fuel projects.

Reclaim Finance has published the 17th edition of Banking on Climate Chaos (BOCC) which found that the world’s 65 largest banks committed $906 billion to fossil fuel companies in 2025, an increase of 8% from the previous year.

It added since the Paris Agreement was signed a decade ago, “these banks have channelled $8.7 trillion into oil, gas, and coal operations”.

The report said that JPMorgan Chase remains the number one fossil fuel financier in the world, providing $58 billion to fossil fuel companies in 2025, up 12.6% from 2024. Bank of America ranks second at $47 billion, and Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) ranks third at $47 billion, a 21% increase in a single year.

The “Dirty Dozen” — the twelve largest fossil fuel banks — now provide nearly 40% of all global bank fossil fuel financing across approximately 2,000 banks worldwide.
Financing for companies actively expanding fossil fuels surged 27% to $508 billion in 2025. Any such expansion financing is incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

The report revealed a range of figures from open-source data:

• US$906 billion – total finance in 2025, an 8 percent increase from 2024
• US$8.7 trillion – oil, gas, and coal finance since the Paris Agreement (2016)
• US$508 billion – finance for expansion in 2025, an increase of 27%, the highest on record

US banks’ share of all global bank fossil fuel financing increased to 32%, up from 28% in 2021, and represents the single largest source of fossil capital in the world. European banks show the clearest downward trend. BNP Paribas reduced fossil deals by 28%; UBS by 36%; La Caixa by 34%. Standard Chartered however increased its fossil fuel financing by 28%, Deutsche Bank by 20% and HSBC by 16%.

The report also highlighted the limited impacts of voluntary climate commitments and the need for stronger regulatory measures.

“Following the collapse of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), banks accelerated their policy rollbacks,” it added. “Of the 15 North American banks in scope, 12 now have no meaningful fossil fuel commitments. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs abandoned their coal and Arctic exclusions entirely, converting them into case-by-case due diligence standards.”

Niko Lusiani, research director, Rainforest Action Network and co-author of the report said: “A decade after Paris, just twelve banks now drive more than a third of the world’s fossil fuel financing — proof that this is no longer a problem of markets, but of a small set of decision-makers making active choices. They are choosing to lock in an energy system that hands record profits to a few fossil firms while passing the costs onto the three of every four people on Earth who depend on imported fuel. The good news is that what a handful of banks built, governments and people worldwide have the power to change.”

Co-author Diogo Silva, campaign lead, BankTrack added: “Banks keep telling us they are committed to climate. Then they abandon their own policies the moment political pressure mounts. Voluntary pledges have had their chance. We need binding rules — not promises.”

The report added: “The fossil energy crises of the 2020s, which are Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the 2026 US-Israeli war on Iran, show that fossil fuel dependence is a structural source of global instability.

“Three-quarters of humanity lives in fossil-importing countries and bears the cost of every supply disruption. Following the Iran conflict and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, wholesale gas prices roughly doubled in the EU while emergency rationing spiralled throughout Southeast Asia.

“Trends show that profits flow upward: 84% of US oil and gas excess profits from the Ukraine crisis went to the wealthiest 10% of individuals while everyone else paid the price. This pattern looks to be repeating itself in 2026.”

The report said that JPMorgan Chase remains the number one fossil fuel financier in the world, providing $58 billion to fossil fuel companies in 2025, up 12.6% from 2024. Bank of America ranks second at $47 billion, and Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) ranks third at $47 billion, a 21% increase in a single year.