In 2024 $ 4,300,000,000,000 are invested in coal, oil, and gas companies.

Gigantic floods, catastrophic hurricanes, devastating fires, and horrific heatwaves are happening all around the world. At the same time, investors make gigantic profits from investing in fossil fuel companies which are causing this climate crisis.
At COP28 in Dubai, the international community agreed to “transition away” from fossil fuels. In May 2024, however, over 7,500 institutional investors still held bonds and shares in coal, oil, and gas companies to the tune of $4.3 trillion. This website is a tool for citizens’ movements, customers and regulators to hold pension funds, insurers, and asset managers accountable.

The Trillions in Fossil Fuel Developers

There are 2,048 fossil fuel developers among the 2,928 fossil fuel companies that are in the scope of this research. These fossil fuel developers are exploring or developing new oil and gas reserves or planning to build new fossil fuel infrastructure such as pipelines, LNG terminals or coal- and gas-fired power plants. According to the data, almost $4 trillion of the identified institutional investments are in companies which are actively developing new fossil fuel assets.

Too Much in Oil and Gas, Still Too Much in Coal

This research covers institutional investors’ holdings of companies featured on Urgewald’s Global Coal Exit List (GCEL) and Global Oil & Gas Exit List (GOGEL).
In May 2024, 5,260 institutional investors were still holding bonds and shares of coal companies that added up to $1.2 trillion. Over 95% of companies on GCEL have failed to set a coal exit date and 40% are still planning to develop new coal assets. 7,245 institutional investors were still invested in an expanding oil and gas industry with a total value of $3.8 trillion. GOGEL shows that 96% of oil and gas producers are still exploring and developing new oil and gas reserves and that the industry has increased its annual capital expenditure on oil and gas exploration by more than 30% since 2021.

Investors around the Globe

Investors and asset managers from 10 countries are responsible for 91% of institutional investments in the fossil fuel industry. These countries are the US ($2.8 trillion), Canada ($254 billion), Japan ($168 billion), the UK ($152 billion), India ($115 billion), China ($87 billion), Norway ($86 billion), Switzerland ($80 billion), France ($71 billion), and Germany ($70 billion). US investments alone account for 65% of total investments in fossil fuel companies.

About

This finance research report is published by Urgewald and co-published by 17 NGO partners. The finance research was conducted by the not-for-profit company Profundo.

Complementary to Investing in Climate Chaos, the joint NGO report Banking on Climate Chaos shows bank's financing for the fossil fuel industry. Urgewald's research on all coal banks worldwide is available on the Still Banking on Coal website.

Further analyses of the listed financial institutions’ fossil fuel policies can be found in the Coal Policy Tracker and the Oil & Gas Policy Tracker of Reclaim Finance.

Urgewald's Resources

Urgewald‘s databases of the fossil fuel industry identify the coal, oil and gas companies destroying our planet. They contain comprehensive company-level information on the whole coal, oil and gas industry.

The Global Oil & Gas Exit List (GOGEL) is the most comprehensive publicly available database on the oil and gas industry. GOGEL 2023 covers 1,622 companies active in oil and gas production, and that are developing LNG terminals, oil or gas pipelines, and gas-fired power plants. Companies listed on GOGEL account for 95% of global oil and gas production.

The Global Coal Exit List (GCEL) includes 1,433 companies and their subsidiaries and joint ventures. Their activities range from coal mining, trading and transport to the conversion of coal to liquids, the operation of coal-fired power stations and the manufacturing of equipment for new coal plants. 95% of the companies on GCEL are not transitioning. Over 577 companies on GCEL are still developing new coal power plants, new coal mines, or new coal transport infrastructure. Up to now, only 71 companies have announced a coal exit date.