Greenwashed Finance: Winners and Losers of the Sustainable Transition

Highly polluting extractive companies, fossil and mining are getting billions of euros from so-called 'green' funds according to the labels of the European Green Finance Regulation and unregulated “sustainability-linked bonds”, hijacking resources from truly sustainable companies. 

As an important follow-up to the team's previous investigation, the new findings show how these polluting companies keep receiving “sustainable” funding by running disinformation campaigns on the media. Then, both companies and asset managers investing in them claim to be engaging for the sustainable transition but so far, they have not been able to prove it. With this investigation the journalists unveil the greenwashing leading this great deception in which the losers are responsible investors, communities affected by harmful activities, and the environment.

Key findings:

•    Eni, Italian oil and gas giant, issued a “Sustainability-Linked” bond raising 2 billion euros through a massive disinformation campaign on italian major newspapers.

•    86% of the proceeds might be used for massive extractive activities, called carbon bombs, around the world.

•    While promising to the public poor sustainability target, Eni is buying its CO2 reduction with low quality carbon credits, used to offset its emissions, resulting in an insignificant reduction of its operative emissions.

•    Eni convinced the public to invest in this bond through a disinformation campaign in which claimed to be engaged in a just transition, and influencing articles that presented the bond as a planet saver “green” bond, which is not.

•    In 2024 banks and other asset managers invested more than $33 billion in top oil majors responsible for 18% of global annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG), through so-called “green” funds vouching for a sustainable economy. Over €18bn is invested in the five biggest polluters: TotalEnergies, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP, which topped a 2023 ranking for oil and gas production among shareholder-owned firms.

•    JP Morgan, DWS/Deutsche Bank, BlackRock, Amundi, UBS, DNB, Eurizon/Intesa San Paolo, Northern Trust, Storebrand, Alliance Bernstein, are the top 10 asset managers for their green investments in the fossil sector and they totalled $12.6 billion.

•    Despite asset managers are claiming that their engagement with fossil companies has a positive impact on their net-zero transition path, no major oil and gas producer has plans consistent with international climate targets and many companies have weakened their plans in the last year, according to a report from Carbon Tracker in April.

•    Campaigners and experts said change is needed to avoid greenwashing and people being misled.