Campaigners in Ukraine said these institutions must immediately end such investments, to limit funding for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and avoid a climate meltdown. Carbon bombs are fossil fuel mining projects that researchers have found contain at least 1 billion tonnes of climate-warming CO2, three times the UK’s annual emissions. Russia is a hotspot, with 40 coal bombs, 19 of which are operated or developed by Russian companies backed by foreign financial sources. The companies are Gazprom, Novatek, Lukoil, Rosneft oil company and Tatneft. The database, created by the Leave it in the Ground Initiative (Lingo), found that more than 400 foreign financial institutions had provided $130 billion (£109 billion) in support to Russian companies – $52 billion in investments and $84 billion on credit. The figures were released on Wednesday, Ukraine’s independence day and six months since the start of the Russian invasion. US and UK financial institutions are among the biggest investors in Russian ‘coal bombs’ Financial institutions in the US hold almost half of the foreign investments in Russian coal bomb companies, with 154 institutions holding $23.6 billion. The largest combination of investment and credit – $10 billion – was provided by JPMorgan Chase, which other analyzes have also identified as a leading fossil fuel financier. The largest single investment in Russian coal-bombing companies was $15.3 billion in Rosneft held by the Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. The United Kingdom was third on the list of investing countries, with 32 financial institutions holding $2.5 billion in investments. HSBC had the largest total of investments and loans, at $308 million. Financial groups in Japan, Norway, Switzerland and the Netherlands also had significant investments, while Chinese and Italian institutions provided $45 billion in credit between them. “Putin’s war is financed by fossil fuel money, and these fossil fuels are causing climate collapse as we speak,” said Svitlana Romanko, director of the Ukrainian NGO Razom We Stand, which calls for an immediate end to all foreign investment in Russian fossil fuel companies and a permanent embargo on Russian oil, gas and coal. “Investing in Russian coal bombs is the worst thing you can do today.” Graph of US investment in carbon bombs Kjell Kühne, at Lingo, said: “This [war] has made it really clear that when you don’t care who you deal with, it translates into human suffering and lost lives. It is also clear that we should not invest in new fossil fuel projects, as the International Energy Agency has confirmed. Anyone involved in these projects should really question what they’re doing.” Lingo researchers said some financial institutions may have scaled back their support for Russian companies since the war began, but that many appear to have taken a wait-and-see approach. Researchers hope the database will allow campaigners to challenge the 400 institutions about their investments. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Foreign financial support is largely for major oil and gas projects in Russia, including in Siberia and the Arctic. Coal projects are mainly supported by domestic investors, the researchers said. The database includes financial support only for Russian fossil fuel companies and not for foreign oil and gas companies working in Russia or the service companies that support them. In May, the Guardian revealed that the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies were quietly planning massive oil and gas projects that would push the climate beyond internationally agreed temperature limits, with devastating global consequences. The plans included 195 coal bombs identified by Kühne and his colleagues, 60% of which have already started pumping. “We’ve located the coal bombs, now we have to defuse them,” he said. A spokesman for HSBC said: “HSBC Asset Management has suspended trading in its Russia-only funds, which include the Russian oil and gas companies listed and [is] no longer invests in funds whose objectives included investments in Russian securities. In these funds, exposure to Russian stocks has generally been reduced or exited.” JPMorgan Chase and the Qatar Investment Authority were also contacted for comment.
