Paris (AFP)

Large financial groups have contributed $ 745 billion over the past three years to 258 companies developing coal plant projects around the world, according to data provided Thursday by environmental NGOs Urgewald and BankTrack.

These organizations have recognized different types of financing (loans, equity issues and bonds) granted by financial players between January 2017 and September 2019 to these companies, all listed and their financiers on a large database named la, managed by Urgewald.

Since the beginning of 2017, 307 commercial banks have lent $ 159 billion directly to companies involved in coal-fired power plant projects, one of the most polluting energy projects on the planet.

The top three lenders are Japanese banking groups: Mizuho ($ 16.8 billion), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial group ($ 14.6 billion) and Sumitomo Mitsui banking corporation ($ 7.9 billion). In fourth and fifth place come the American bank Citigroup (5.7 billion) and the first French bank BNP Paribas (4.3 billion).

NGOs note that Japanese banks account for about one third of the loans granted to these 258 companies and European banks 26% since 2017.

"The big European banks like BNP Paribas and Barclays exclude direct financing for projects for new coal-fired power plants, they continue to grant loans to companies that are pushing forward" such projects, denounces Greig Aitken, campaign manager climate for BankTrack, quoted in the release.

Also implicated by the NGOs was the Spanish group Santander, which granted $ 655 million to three companies (PGE, Tauron and Energa) to install 5.7 gigawatts of additional coal production in Poland.

In addition, 300 banks have paid more than $ 585 billion to these coal promoters through the issuance of securities, the activists continue.

This time, the top five issuer groups are Chinese: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ($ 33 ​​billion), Ping An Insurance Group ($ 27.4 billion), China International Trust Investment Corporation ($ 25.7 billion), Bank of China (24.1 billion) and the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (22.4 billion).

These "acts are a slap in the face of the Paris climate deal," says Greig Aitken of BankTrack.

In total, there are more than 1,000 power plant projects or coal production units that, if implemented, would add 570 gigawatts to the global coal-fired power plant, increasing it by 28 percent, deploring these environmental NGOs in a joint communiqué with a global network of NGO partners.

© 2019 AFP