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The big banks are funding a huge problem

Despite the urgent need to stop global warming, and the havoc being wreaked on our land, water, air, health and communities, Australia’s big four banks continue to play a critical role in supporting the dirty fossil industry.

As a community, we have the power to change the big banks. But we need you to join our campaign, ensuring your money is used as a force for good.

You can join the movement – put your bank on notice, telling it that if it continues to choose fossil fuels, you’ll choose another bank.

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Your message to ANZ

Subject

Your message

Please feel free to personalise the message! Let ANZ know if you are a customer or shareholder.

Dear Nuno Matos and Paul O’Sullivan,

Market Forces has identified 17 fossil fuel company clients of ANZ's that are objectively misaligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement and therefore, must be ineligible for any new or renewed finance from your bank.

These clients include: TotalEnergies, BP, Woodside Energy, INPEX, Santos, PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk, JERA, Beach Energy, Senex Energy (Hancock Prospecting), BHP, Glencore, San Miguel (SMC Global Power), APA Group, Global Infrastructure Partners, Siemens Energy, GE Vernova and ENGIE.

The world’s leading climate and energy bodies – the UN IPCC and the International Energy Agency – are unequivocal: to avoid catastrophic warming, production and combustion of fossil fuels must rapidly decline. New or expanded fossil fuel projects are not compatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement and will only serve to exacerbate climate risk. Yet these companies continue to pursue expansion.

As ANZ now requires climate transition plans from fossil fuel clients as a prerequisite for new finance, these companies cannot credibly demonstrate Paris-alignment and should not be eligible for new or renewed finance.

Financing any of these companies – which ANZ knows are not Paris-aligned – will invite intense scrutiny and heighten regulatory, legal and reputational risk.

I am deeply concerned that ANZ remains the only one of Australia’s big four banks without a clear threshold to restrict finance to companies that lack adequate transition plans. ANZ also continues to refuse to require time-bound Scope 3 emissions reductions in fossil fuel clients’ transition plans. ANZ describing a transition plan that “may have targets to reduce material Scope 3 emissions” as “mature” and demonstrative of “sector leadership” is absurd. This is not leadership or alignment with climate science.

It is appalling that, despite ANZ’s stated commitment to the Paris Agreement and net zero by 2050, the bank continues to support companies expanding coal, oil and gas. The science is unequivocal: new and expanded fossil fuel projects cannot proceed if we are to meet global climate goals. Yet ANZ keeps enabling expansion, making a mockery of its own commitments.

Meanwhile, CommBank, NAB and Westpac have clearer policy guardrails and have ceased offering new and renewed finance to companies that fail to meet their base-level transition plan expectations. ANZ is exposed and needs to address this shortcoming immediately.

A credible assessment of fossil fuel clients’ compatibility with ANZ’s climate commitments must include serious scrutiny of Scope 3 emissions reductions. Scope 3 typically accounts for around 90% of an oil and gas producer’s total climate impact – driving the worsening human and economic toll of climate-fuelled heatwaves, bushfires and floods.

“Net-zero plans that exclude Scope 3 emissions (from burning fossil fuels) are incomplete. Now is the time to fast-track, not backtrack. The time for ambition and transparency, not greenwashing.” – António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, November 2024

It's almost as if António Guterres said this specifically for ANZ.

It is obvious that ANZ’s aim is not to ‘be the leading Australia- and New Zealand-based bank in supporting customers’ transition to net zero emissions by 2050’ – but to be the bank of choice for fossil fuel companies actively making climate change worse.

ANZ is offering expansionist fossil fuel companies an escape route from accountability under the pretence of assessing compatibility with a safe climate. This is a huge mistake.

I call on ANZ to act immediately:

1. Make all new or renewed finance conditional on fossil fuel clients having credible, time-bound, Paris-aligned transition plans that:
- include Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reduction targets;
- include no capital expenditure for new or expanded coal, oil or gas projects; and
- set time-bound production caps and reductions.

2. Close the bond/arranger loophole so ANZ cannot provide long-life finance to companies expanding fossil fuels.

3. Adopt a clear red line that blocks new and renewed finance to companies whose strategies are incompatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement including the companies listed above.

Australians expect better from a bank that claims to take climate change seriously. It’s time to fix the policy gaps, close the loopholes, and align ANZ’s financing with science and community expectations.

Please respond to these concerns without resorting to the false claim that gas is a “transition fuel.” Gas fields, pipelines and LNG terminals lock in 30–40 years of emissions, there is no evidence gas reliably displaces coal, and support for gas undermines a genuine transition to renewables.

I look forward to your prompt response and a clear plan for reform.

Sincerely,

Your message to CommBank

Subject

Your message

Please feel free to personalise the message! Let CommBank know if you are a customer or shareholder.

Dear CommBank,

I want to acknowledge the important progress CommBank has made in reducing finance to fossil fuel companies over the past two years, and in strengthening and implementing the bank’s Customer Transition Plan (CTP) policy. Requiring credible, Paris-aligned transition plans – and declining finance to fossil fuel companies incompatible with a safe climate – must be how CommBank lives up to its climate commitments.

Market Forces has identified five fossil fuel company clients of CommBank's that are objectively misaligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement and therefore, must be ineligible for any new or renewed finance from your bank.

These clients include: Santos, Glencore, APA Group, Cheniere Corpus Christi Holdings, and  Cheniere Energy.

It’s promising to see CommBank turning a corner, but the bank must not stop here. Any fossil fuel company pursuing new or expanded projects is not compatible with a safe climate and must not be eligible to receive new or renewed finance from CommBank.

To maintain credibility and ensure its policies deliver real-world emissions cuts, CommBank must not provide new or renewed finance to the clients listed above. In particular, APA Group – even if not currently required by CommBank to have a credible CTP – should be ineligible for new finance given its critical role in enabling gas fracking in the Beetaloo Basin.

APA Group is Australia’s largest gas infrastructure business and a prominent midstream client of CommBank. APA has signed early-stage agreements to build several large-scale pipelines that would enable one of Australia’s largest proposed gas fracking developments – the Beetaloo Basin.

Fracking is a high-risk extraction method notorious for contaminating water systems and agricultural land, and it has devastated local communities and ecosystems in the United States. The practice poses such severe environmental and health risks that it has been banned in Victoria, Tasmania, and in 15 countries worldwide.

If Beetaloo proceeds at full scale, as proponents intend, it would become one of Australia’s largest and highest-emitting gas developments, operating until almost 2070 and releasing an estimated 1.1 billion tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions. Such investments in long-lived, emissions-intensive infrastructure emphasise the urgency of assessing midstream fossil fuel clients for alignment with the Paris Agreement.

Until APA makes clear that it will not develop transmission pipelines to service the Beetaloo Basin, it does not have a credible climate transition plan aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Continuing to fund companies facilitating the development of Beetaloo would contradict the spirit and intent of CommBank’s CTP expectations and climate commitments.

I call on CommBank to commit to not providing any new or renewed finance to APA Group unless and until it publicly rules out involvement in any current or future infrastructure that enables Beetaloo Basin fracking or other new or expanded oil and gas fields.

CommBank has taken welcome steps to change course on climate. The next, necessary step is consistency: align implementation with policy by declining finance that would enable Beetaloo gas. Australians expect that a bank committed to climate action will not bankroll the infrastructure that makes Beetaloo possible.

I would appreciate a response outlining how CommBank will ensure APA Group is assessed under its current climate policy settings, and whether CommBank will rule out any new or renewed financing while APA Group remains connected to projects enabling Beetaloo fracking.

Sincerely,

Your message to NAB

Subject

Your message

Please feel free to personalise the message! Let NAB know if you are a customer or shareholder.

Dear NAB,

I want to acknowledge the important progress NAB has made in reducing finance to fossil fuel companies over the past two years, and in strengthening and implementing the bank’s Customer Transition Plan (CTP) policy. Requiring credible, Paris-aligned transition plans – and declining finance to fossil fuel companies incompatible with a safe climate – is essential for NAB to live up to its climate commitments.

Market Forces has identified 12 fossil fuel company clients of NAB's that are objectively misaligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement and therefore, must be ineligible for any new or renewed finance from your bank.

These clients include: Santos, Beach Energy, BHP, Glencore, TC Energy, APA Group, Global Infrastructure Partners, Cheniere Corpus Christi Holdings, Sabine Pass Liquefaction, Cheniere Energy, Freeport LNG, and KKR / Sempra Infrastructure.

It’s promising to see NAB turning a corner, but the bank must not stop here. Any fossil fuel company pursuing new or expanded projects is not compatible with a safe climate and must not be eligible to receive new or renewed finance from NAB.

To maintain credibility and ensure its policies deliver real-world emissions cuts, NAB must not provide new or renewed finance to the clients listed above. In particular, APA Group – even if not currently required by NAB to have a credible CTP – should be ineligible for new finance given its critical role in enabling gas fracking in the Beetaloo Basin.

APA Group is Australia’s largest gas infrastructure business and a prominent midstream client of NAB. APA has signed early-stage agreements to build several large-scale pipelines that would enable one of Australia’s largest proposed gas fracking developments – the Beetaloo Basin.

I call on NAB to commit to not providing any new or renewed finance to APA Group unless and until it publicly rules out involvement in any current or future infrastructure that enables Beetaloo Basin fracking or other new or expanded oil and gas fields.

NAB has taken welcome steps to change course on climate. The next, necessary step is consistency: align implementation with policy by declining finance that would enable Beetaloo gas. Australians expect that a bank committed to climate action will not bankroll the infrastructure that makes Beetaloo possible.

I would appreciate a response outlining how NAB will ensure APA Group is assessed under its current climate policy settings, and whether NAB will rule out any new or renewed financing while APA Group remains connected to projects enabling Beetaloo fracking.

Sincerely,

Your message to Westpac

Subject

Your message

Please feel free to personalise the message! Let Westpac know if you are a customer or shareholder.

Dear Anthony Miller and Steven Gregg,

Market Forces has identified 11 fossil fuel company clients of Westpac's that are objectively misaligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement and therefore, must be ineligible for any new or renewed finance from your bank.

These clients include: TotalEnergies, BP, Woodside Energy, INPEX, Santos. JERA, Beach Energy, BHP, APA Group, Global Infrastructure Partners and GE Vernova.

As Westpac now requires climate transition plans from fossil fuel clients as a prerequisite for new finance, these companies cannot credibly demonstrate Paris-alignment and should not be eligible for new or renewed finance.

Financing any of these companies – which Westpac knows are not Paris-aligned – will invite intense scrutiny and heighten regulatory, legal and reputational risk.

Further, I was shocked and appalled to learn that Westpac’s latest climate policy makes clear the bank is not assessing Scope 3 emissions for fossil fuel clients. For fossil fuel producers, Scope 3 emissions account for the overwhelming majority of their total footprint. Ignoring this removes any pretence of climate alignment.

Scope 3 emissions typically account for 90% of an oil and gas producer’s contribution to global warming that is driving the worsening human and economic toll of climate-fuelled heatwaves, bushfires and floods.

It's almost as if António Guterres said this specifically for Westpac.

Westpac’s new approach is a massive backtrack – intentionally offering expansionist fossil fuel companies an escape route from accountability under the pretence of assessing compatibility with a safe climate. This is a huge mistake.

What has gone so wrong at Westpac? Why the abrupt shift in stance on climate? Not long ago, the bank was showing signs of leadership:

“Within five years, maybe earlier, if you don’t have a plan that stacks up - that’s credible and scientifically backed - to transition your business, to adjust your model, or exit what you’re doing, to ensure we get to net zero then you will not be supported, whether that be debt or equity or banking,” – Anthony Miller, 31 May 2022

“(Westpac) would also continue to provide corporate lending only to customers with credible transition plans in place by 2025.” – Anthony Miller, 27 July 2022

“A credible transition plan should be developed by reference to the best available science and should include Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and actions the company will take to achieve greenhouse gas reductions aligned with pathways to net-zero by 2050, or sooner, consistent with a maximum temperature rise of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100.” – Westpac’s CTP policy 2022-2025.

Westpac's new stance falls far short of these statements. It is obvious now that Westpac’s aim is not to ‘become the transition partner of choice’ – but be the bank of choice for companies making climate change worse.

“Westpac shifts climate targets and eases path for more lending to gas” – AFR, May 2025

Westpac used to lend the least to fossil fuels among its peers, but across 2024–2025 it accounted for 36% ($1.2 billion) of lending from the big four to fossil fuel companies on Urgewald’s ‘Global Exit Lists’, leapfrogging CommBank and NAB and now rivaling ANZ as the biggest fossil fuel financier in Australia.

Westpac is now at the back of the pack among the big four banks on climate integrity. In contrast to Westpac, CommBank and NAB are living up to their climate commitments by cutting ties with companies like Woodside, Santos, and BHP. That is what climate leadership looks like – aligning finance with science, not creating loopholes for big polluters.

It is clear that under its current policy framework Westpac will continue to bankroll fossil fuel expansion that locks in decades of harm for communities and the climate. This must change.

I call on Westpac to act immediately:

- Reinstate your requirement that all fossil fuel clients have credible, time-bound Paris-aligned transition plans covering Scopes 1–3 emission reductions, as a prerequisite to new or renewed finance, and
- not provide new or renewed finance to any company that is pursuing new or expanded fossil fuel projects including the companies listed above.

Australians expect better from a bank that claims to take climate change seriously. Reverse this policy failure, close the loopholes, and align your financing with the science and community expectations.

I request a response to my concerns without Westpac resorting to the false claim that gas is a “transition fuel.” Gas fields, pipelines and LNG terminals lock in 30–40 years of emissions at least (the opposite of a time-bound transition), there is no evidence that gas replaces coal use, and support for gas only serves to undermine any genuine transition to renewables.

Sincerely,

Yes, I want to hear more from Market Forces about this campaign

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TOOK ACTION: Banks - Fossil fuel blocklist report - ANZ CBA NAB WBC - Nov 2025

Learn how the big four banks are using your money to

fund fossil fuels

Compare banks

Compare the fossil fuel investment positions of over 106 banks, credit unions & mutuals

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Fossil fuel blocklist

The companies Australia’s big four banks can no longer touch

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ANZ

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ANZ is the biggest funder of fossil fuels among Australian banks, having loaned or arranged over $15.9 billion for Exit List companies in the last decade.

CommBank

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Commonwealth Bank only accounts for 6% of total financing to Exit List companies since the beginning of 2022. While Commonwealth Bank came in second over the last decade, the vast majority of this financing occurred in the first six years following the Paris Agreement, with a sharp decline in the last three and a half years.

NAB

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NAB’s total financing (bonds and loans) of Exit List companies has fallen from 43% of all big four financing in 2021 to 17% in 2024, further reducing to just 9% in 2025 (as of 1 September).

Westpac

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Westpac alone has provided $7.9 billion to some of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies since the Paris Agreement in 2016 – and continues to back big polluters like BP, Woodside and Santos.

Japanese megabanks

The Japanese megabanks MUFG, SMBC Group and Mizuho are among the world’s top financiers supporting the fossil fuel industry.

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2024 AGM Season

Shareholder pressure increasing on ANZ, NAB and Westpac as the banks look to reassess their support for climate wreckers in 2025.

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2023 AGM Season

ANZ, NAB and Westpac continue to undermine their commitments to the Paris Agreement by financing companies that are expanding the fossil fuel industry.

Learn more + take action

Did you know?

From 2016 to 2026

the Big Banks provided

$43.4 Billion

in finance to 96 fossil fuel companies on the Global Coal, Oil and Gas Exit lists.

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