Le Bourget, December 2

The world’s biggest banks are ploughing hundreds of billions of dollars into coal mining despite claiming to be leaders in the fight against climate change, according to a report issued at a UN conference today.

Many of the world’s biggest banks have started to cut back on their financing of coal, the burning of which leads to greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, and are proclaiming themselves climate leaders.

But they have provided more than $257 billion in coal financing over past six years, compared with $105 billion for all renewable energies, according to the study by a coalition of environment groups, including Friends of the Earth.