According to a study commissioned by international charity ActionAid and conducted by Dutch-based consultancy Profundo, a staggering €5.7bn worth of bonds and shares held in major climate polluters like Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, and TotalEnergies have been identified. The study also reveals investments in Chinese coal mines and large agribusiness corporations responsible for widescale deforestation in South America and other regions. These investments are part of a global cashflow to climate-harmful industries in the global south, amounting to $3.2trn (€2.8trn) over the past seven years since the Paris Agreement was signed.
Among the largest investors in Ireland are subsidiaries of US-headquartered asset managers BlackRock, State Street, and Marsh & McLennan, which all have offices in Dublin. Additionally, numerous other banking and investment firms located around the Docklands are involved in supporting fossil fuel companies and agribusiness corporations.
ActionAid Ireland’s Chief Executive, Karol Balfe, emphasizes the need to shine a spotlight on Ireland’s facilitation of financial flows to industries that contribute to climate change in regions most affected by it. While Ireland has taken steps to divest public money from fossil fuel investments through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), regulations do not apply to private companies. Balfe calls for a review and expansion of the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act 2018, suggesting the inclusion of a wider range of harmful industries, such as agribusiness. She also advocates for stricter regulations to prevent indirect support for fossil fuels and urges a review of Ireland’s corporate tax rates, which attract multinational companies and finance houses.
ActionAid highlights that the amount of money flowing into fossil fuel and harmful agribusiness activities in the global south surpasses the climate finance provided by wealthy nations to poorer countries. They estimate that 20 times more money has been invested in climate-harmful activities than in projects addressing the climate crisis. While Ireland promotes the need for greater climate finance during international summits, there appears to be a lack of coherence between Irish financial regulations and Irish aid priorities.
The study, entitled “How the Finance Flows: The Banks Fueling the Climate Crisis and Ireland’s Role in Enabling This,” is published today alongside a global report.
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