Fossil fuels: who are the biggest financiers?

To be precise, their calculation takes into account everything that the 200 largest oil or gas companies hold as deposits that are being exploited or exploited. These are 200 companies (Underground carbon 200), combined, contains 98% of known fossil fuel reserves, which is enough to release 674 gigatons of carbon, if all these reserves are exploited.

The downside behind an FFI group account (Fossil-free catalogs), even in the worst case scenario, very unlikely That this 674 gigatons will be extracted from the earth in the coming decades: more and more countries are committed to the process of reducing greenhouse gases and switching to wind or solar energy. But the new side of This compilation It is to determine who financed these companies, or more precisely, which financiers appear most often on the list.

This is how we found at the helm of the group, as of February 2021, the American multinational capital management firms BlackRock (who describes himself As “one of the world’s leading investment, advice and risk management solutions”) and forefrontfollowed by the Government of India, the US Banking and Financial Services Corporation State Streetand the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through its Aramco. In the latter case, although Aramco is only ranked fifth, you should know that the country itself comes first in terms of potential emissions, with just over 100 gigatons.

Norway’s central bank is also on the list (8th place) through its sovereign fund. The Russian government, in February 2021, reached the 13th place, among several other American banks and investment companies (Dimensional Fund Advisors, Fidelity Investments, Capital Group).

FFI researchers justify their approach By the fact that in theory, determine the largest contributors Allows you to target More effectively are those who control the economic levers of oil exploitation. But the asset management firm has so many clients that it’s not as easy to browse as a pension fund or a university – two goals of the fossil fuel “liquidation” movement of the past decade.