To judge whether a bank is climate-friendly, look beyond its green branding or net-zero pledge. Check what it finances, what its fossil-fuel policies restrict, and whether it measures and reports emissions from its financial activities. Then verify that the account is available to you and suits your needs in your country.
What should I look for in a climate-friendly bank?
Use a consistent set of checks rather than relying on a single label or score. UNEP FI’s October 2025 Guidance for Climate Target Setting for Banks – Version 4 recommends public long-term and interim targets, and its guidance emphasizes the importance of measuring and disclosing climate-related activity. Read the UNEP FI guidance.
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- Fossil-fuel financing: Does the bank disclose financing to oil, gas, and coal companies, including companies expanding production or infrastructure? Check which years and types of transactions are covered.
- Policy scope: Do the bank’s restrictions address coal, oil, and gas, and do they cover expansion? Read the policy itself for covered activities, client thresholds, exclusions, and exceptions.
- Targets: Are there both long-term goals and interim milestones? Note which sectors and financial activities are covered, the baseline year, and the scenario used.
- Measurement and transparency: Does the bank report emissions associated with lending, investments, and capital-markets activity? Check the method and the activities included.
- Date and comparability: Record the reporting year, the bank entity assessed, and the methodology. Figures from different periods or with different definitions are not directly comparable.
UNEP FI recommends that banks “individually and independently set and publicly disclose long-term and intermediate targets to support meeting a net-zero GHG emissions goal and towards alignment with the Paris Agreement.” A pledge is a starting point to investigate, not proof of performance: look for the targets, baselines, reporting, sector coverage, and policies behind it.
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How do I know whether my bank funds fossil fuels?
Start with the bank’s latest climate or sustainability report, then compare its claims with independent financing analysis. Banking on Climate Chaos (BOCC) publishes financing analysis and separate oil-and-gas and coal policy trackers. Its 2026 report says it covers 65 of the world’s biggest banks and financing for 860 oil, gas, and coal companies expanding fossil fuels in 2025. Those are the report’s stated scope figures, based on Urgewald’s 2025 Global Oil & Gas Exit List and Global Coal Exit List; they are not a census of every bank or every relevant transaction.
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- Find the bank’s exact legal entity. A parent group, subsidiary, and local retail bank may not be treated identically in reports. Check which entity a dataset names.
- Check the period and transaction types. Compare the years and financing activities covered, not just a headline total.
- Look for expansion-related clients and activities. A bank policy may address some fossil-fuel projects or clients without restricting all companies expanding production or infrastructure.
- Read the methodology. BOCC’s methodology FAQ describes its transaction scope, company selection, financing allocation, and bank feedback process. Its financing totals are method-dependent estimates, not the bank’s total balance sheet or a direct measure of the effect of an individual customer’s deposit.
- Keep financing data separate from policy ratings. A financing estimate asks what activity was attributed to banks under a stated method; a policy assessment asks what the bank says it will restrict. Neither answers the other question.
For another way to compare target coverage and alignment, the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) says its 2025 Banking Tool assessed 36 major international banks. It evaluates which sectors and activities banks include in decarbonization targets, the targets’ timeframes, and alignment against low-carbon benchmarks. Its coverage is not every bank worldwide, and it does not establish which bank offers the right account for a particular customer.
How to compare a bank’s climate claims with its actions
Use the same evidence fields for each bank, and keep the source and date beside each finding. This makes gaps easier to spot without treating unlike measures as a single score.
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| What to compare | Evidence to record | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Financing | Reported period, bank entity, transaction scope, fossil-fuel companies covered, and treatment of expansion | What financing activity an independent dataset attributes to the bank under its method |
| Fossil-fuel policies | Coal, oil, and gas coverage; treatment of new expansion; exclusions and exceptions | What activities or clients the bank says it will restrict |
| Targets | Long-term goal, interim milestones, baseline year, sectors, activities, and scenario | How specific and broad the bank’s stated transition plan is |
| Emissions reporting | Publication year, measurement method, and coverage of lending, investments, and capital-markets activity | How much of the bank’s climate-related financial activity it measures and discloses |
| Assessment coverage | Source, year, bank entity, and whether the assessment measures financing, policies, targets, or alignment | Whether the findings can fairly be compared with another bank’s |
A bank can publish a policy while still appearing in financing data for the period a report covers. That is not automatically a contradiction: the policy may have narrower scope, exceptions, or a different effective date, while the financing analysis may cover earlier transactions or apply its own attribution method. Check those details before drawing a conclusion.
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Global climate assessments do not tell you whether a particular account is offered where you live or whether it meets your practical requirements. Confirm these details with official sources for your country and the bank before moving money:
- Deposit protection and which institution holds the account
- Fees, eligibility, and whether the account is open to your residency or business type
- Access to branches, cash, cards, payments, and customer support that you rely on
- How to transfer recurring payments, direct deposits, and balances, and whether you need to keep the old account open during the transition
Values-based banking groups can be a discovery route, but membership alone does not establish current fossil-fuel financing, policy strength, or local account terms. For example, the Global Alliance for Banking on Values is a place to discover member banks, not a substitute for checking each bank’s disclosures and locally available products.
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