Lawsuits aimed at stopping BNP Paribas, Europe’s largest lender, from funding fossil fuel extraction appear to be having some effect. Yesterday the French bank said it would end financing for new oil and gas fields by cutting direct loans. Share Action and other climate campaigners welcomed the new commitment but said indirect funding of hydrocarbon projects was a loophole that BNP still needed to close. The bank provided $61 billion of financing for energy companies between 2016 and 2022, according to data from the Rainforest Action Network, of which only 7 per cent went into renewables.
