(Source: Banking On Climate Chaos, March 2021)

Private Banks

Japan’s megabanks are amongst the world’s largest financiers of gas, coal, and oil.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) ranked as the world’s 6th financier of fossil fuels, while Mizuho Financial Group (Mizuho) ranked as the world’s 8th financier. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC Group) stands apart as the sole Japanese megabank which has increased financing for fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement.

SMBC, MUFG and Mizuho rank as the world’s top 3 banks which provided finance to fossil fuel projects under the Equator Principles since the Paris Agreement. 

Mizuho, MUFG and SMBC Group rank as the world’s top 3 global lenders to the coal industry between January 2019 and October 2021. They were also among the top 10 bankers of LNG. They have provided or considered providing financing to some of the most controversial fossil fuel projects and the Indigenous rights-violating ones such as Coastal GasLink project, LNG Canada, Vung Ang 2, East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline(EACOP) and many more.

350.org Japan, based on the “Global Coal Exit List 2021” by Urgewald

None of Japan’s megabanks have committed to stop funding fossil fuel expansion and deforestation, despite this contradiction with achieving the 1.5 °C climate goals and their long-term targets of achieving net zero by 2050. They have not committed to a fossil fuel phase-out target that is compliant with the 1.5 °C goal of the Paris Agreement.