Fossil fuel, renewable financing reached ‘new heights’ in 2025 – report

MANILA, Philippines – Top Philippine domestic banks’ funding for coal, gas, and renewables reached record levels in 2025, according to an annual report on fossil fuel divestment.

The report, released Tuesday, April 21, said the past year saw coal financing at its highest since 2019 and the 2020 moratorium. Funding for gas amounted to $3.37 billion. These figures indicate “the need to close loopholes in policies and finally initiate gas financing restrictions.”

Total coal and gas financing from 2009 to 2025 sums to $21.18 billion, which is “more than half of total energy financing,” the report said. Meanwhile, financing for renewables quadrupled from 2024 to $5.79 billion, also its highest since 2009.

Environmental advocates called on domestic banks to “cushion, rather than enable” the Philippines’ vulnerability to global price shocks.

“Banks that have not so far made any pronouncements on the coal exposure are lagging behind and must immediately come up with clear policies and timelines to divest,” Ivan Andres of policy think tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED) said in a briefing on Tuesday.

CEED has released annual fossil fuel divestment reports since 2020 (with data starting from 2019) to track domestic banks’ support for fossil fuels and funding for renewables.

The call to phaseout fossil fuel intensified the past month as countries grappled with the impact of the war in the Middle East.

The report comes as around 50 countries are set to gather in Colombia late April for the first-ever conference on fossil fuel phaseout. Advocates say this is the first step toward formal negotiations on a new international treaty. – Rappler.com