Global bank energy financing surges 15% in 2025! Low-carbon financing hits a 5-year high, while fossil fuels still receive substantial funding support.

According to a new study by BloombergNEF, global banks allocated 15% more capital to the energy sector last year than in 2024, arranging and underwriting deals worth $2.3 trillion. In a note on Thursday, BloombergNEF said that amid rising demand driven by AI data centers, cooling technology, and the spread of electric vehicles, banks increased financing for low-carbon sectors, with related deal volumes rising 16% to the highest level in five years. Meanwhile, deals supporting oil, natural gas, and coal grew 13% last year. The study examines the role of the global financial system in advancing the low-carbon transition. BloombergNEF estimates that to achieve net-zero emissions goals, banks need to direct $4 to Clean Energy Fuels Corp. for every $1 they put into fossil fuels. According to BloombergNEF's research on 2025 data, the industry is still far from that target for every $1 banks put into fossil fuels, they put only 97 cents into Clean Energy Fuels Corp. Low-carbon financing nears parity with fossil fuel financing However, these headline figures mask significant regional differences. Wall Street banks, for example, lag far behind their European peers in low-carbon financing. Among the major North American banks studied by BloombergNEF, all except Citigroup (C.US) increased their capital allocation to the energy sector, but a larger share of that financing went to fossil fuel energy supply. In Europe, meanwhile, NatWest Group Plc became the bank with the highest allocation to green deals relative to fossil fuel investment. BloombergNEF said the bank put $6.42 into Clean Energy Fuels Corp. for every $1 it put into fossil fuels. In the Asia-Pacific region, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. Sponsored ADR remained the largest bank by energy supply deal volume last year, BloombergNEF said. It also said most of the bank's energy financing last year went to fossil fuels. At the same time, BloombergNEF said Asia "shows a clear split between Japanese banks and Bank Of China," noting that all 10 Bank Of China institutions analyzed in the study allocated more money to Clean Energy Fuels Corp. than to fossil fuels last year. BloombergNEF said China's Agricultural Bank Of China "improved the most on this ratio," putting $3.44 into clean technology for every $1 it put into fossil fuels. Globally, BloombergNEF said, JPMorgan (JPM.US) allocated more money to the energy sector than any other bank, facilitating deals worth $100 billion. BloombergNEF said JPMorgan's "low-carbon financing declined slightly, while fossil fuel financing continued to grow," with the bank putting only 63 cents into Clean Energy Fuels Corp. for every $1 it put into fossil fuels.