Missing Methane: The decarbonization risks and opportunities of financed methane emissions

Introduction

In 2019 and 2020, the six largest US banks – Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo – set targets to decarbonize their oil and gas portfolios. So far, however, the Big Six have yet to demonstrate clear reductions in their financed emissions.

Much of the ambiguity in the banks’ progress on climate has been due to instability in the various metrics used to measure financed emissions, which are calculated based on ever-shifting factors such as emissions reporting methodology, portfolio composition, and even energy prices. These issues are discussed more fully in our previous report, Carbon Conundrum: The Curious Case of Financed…