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Coal bank financing stays near $117 billion since COP26
Urgewald research found banks provided $467 billion in thermal coal lending and underwriting from 2022 to 2025, with Chinese lenders supplying 62% of the total.
Global banks have kept coal financing close to $117 billion per year since the COP26 climate summit in 2021, according to new research cited by Mining.com from German non-profit Urgewald.
The study tracked loans and underwriting from 744 commercial banks to companies across the thermal coal value chain, finding they provided $467 billion between 2022 and 2025. Chinese banks accounted for $289 billion, or 62% of the total, followed by US banks with 14% and Japanese lenders with 6%.
Urgewald said coal financing has not disappeared, but has concentrated in banks and markets where coal policies are missing or weak. It noted that EU-headquartered banks reduced annual coal financing by 46% to $2.6 billion in 2025 from $4.8 billion in 2022, while increases from China, the US, and parts of Asia offset those cuts.
Urgewald director Heffa Schücking said the sector is increasingly divided, with banks that face tighter coal restrictions generally cutting exposure while other regions expand financing despite net-zero commitments.