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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Matthew Taylor

UK banks are Europe’s biggest coal financiers, report finds

Coal loading machinery deposits material on to a large stockpile at a port
Urgewald tracked loans and underwriting from 744 commercial banks around the world to companies operating across the ‘coal value chain’. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

UK banks are Europe’s biggest financial backers of the global coal industry, providing billions of pounds in funding for the climate-wrecking fossil fuel in the past four years, according to a report.

The study found UK-based banks had provided $8.3bn (£6.2bn) in coal financing since Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021, when global leaders pledged to “phase down” coal use. This compared with $4.9bn from German banks and $3.4bn from French banks over the same period.

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