Funding from JPMorgan Chase and Co
JPMorgan Chase and Co (NYSE: JPM) CEO James Dimon has told US lawmakers emphatically that his bank has no intention of cutting off oil and gas financing. This was revealed by The Wall Street Journal. US House of Representatives member Rashida Harbi Tlaib, during a hearing with the country's bank executives, questioned whether JPMorgan had a policy against providing funds to oil and gas companies.
The CEO of JPMorgan, the largest lender to the U.S. energy industry, responded: "Absolutely not, this is a road to hell for the United States."
It is worth noting that the world's 60 largest banks lent $185.5bn to 100 oil and gas development companies last year, according to a report by a group of environmental non-profit organisations.
However, Joe Biden's administration, with a small majority in Congress, passed, in addition to the executive order on alternative energy conversion, a bill aimed at reducing U.S. carbon emissions by 2030 by 50% and net zero by 2050.
The energy sector accounts for around 40 per cent of global CO2 heat absorption. According to the World Bank, the six largest economies account for three-quarters of these emissions, including the US and China at the top.
In the 6 years since the Paris climate agreement was adopted, these financial institutions have financed a total of $4.6trln in loans and other types of assets to the fossil fuel sector. Moreover, dominated among these banks are US-based JPMorgan Chase and Co (NYSE: JPM), Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C)., Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC). which account for about a quarter of all funding.