ING's financing of companies that start new oil and gas fields is 10 times larger than ING itself reports

Amsterdam, 6 February 2025 – ING's financing of companies that start new oil and gas fields is 10 times larger than ING itself reports. This is shown by a new report by SOMO, published on the day ING announces a €6.3 billion annual profit.

This follows a ruling by the Dutch Court of Appeal stating that starting new oil and gas fields is in conflict with the Paris Climate Agreement. Milieudefensie Director Donald Pols responds: “ING, the bank of the climate crisis, is not being honest about its large contribution to dangerous climate change. ING claims to be a green bank, but distorts its figures and proves to be even dirtier than we thought.”

Ten times more

In ING’s annual report of March 2024, the bank reported €2.5 billion in outstanding loans to upstream oil and gas companies.The new report from SOMO shows that the actual financing of ING to companies starting new oil and gas fields is €26.4 billion. Ten times more. Pols: “This is an absurd difference. ING is locking us into a fossil fuel future. The fields being developed with ING’s money now will continue to pump oil for decades to come. This directly contributes to the deterioration of the climate."

Boris Schellekens, researcher at SOMO, explains the discrepancies between this report and ING's own numbers: "ING uses a very narrow method in its calculations. For example, many companies that are starting new oil and gas fields are not categorised as 'upstream oil and gas' but are put under a different label and therefore not included. As a result, ING's current policy to phase out upstream fossil fuel companies by 2040 is also ineffective."

ING worse than other banks worldwide

While global bank finance for fossil fuels is trending downwards, ING has increased its financing of fossil fuel developers since the Paris Agreement in 2015. ING also disproportionally finances oil, gas, and other carbonintensive sectors compared to other large banks. Pols: “In times of wildfires in California and floods in Spain, it is unimaginable that ING chooses to pump more money into fossil fuel companies. ING claims to have an eye on the future, yet they rob that same future of our children.”

Milieudefensie’s climate court case

This rapport was launched a month after Milieudefensie gave ING one last chance to prevent a climate court case. In a letter, Milieudefensie asks ING to put concrete climate policies in writing meeting Milieudefensie’s demands. If ING fails to do so before February 20th, Milieudefensie will deliver the summons soon after. Pols: “Milieudefensie demands that ING stops financing companies that start new oil and gas projects and that ING halves its emissions in 2030.”