New report reveals ING is dishonest about its funding of climate crisis

New research shows that ING’s financing of companies that develop new oil and gas fields is ten times larger than ING themselves reports. The Netherlands’ most polluting bank is not being honest. Read more about ING’s dirty business.

ING is giving polluters more money than they let on

ING claims to be a ‘green bank’. One that works night and day to improve its sustainability policies. And yet, for years, the bank has been the biggest laggard in industry assessments like the Dutch Fair Finance Guide. Our new joint report with SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations) reveals that ING is financing polluting companies with billions more than they report to the public.

--> Read our press release here

3 times bad news for the planet

1. ING’s financing of companies that develop new oil and gas fields is ten times larger than ING themselves reports.
2. ING keeps financing fossil fuel companies that develop new oil and gas projects, while on average other banks are reducing financing of these polluting companies.
3. At present, ING has 45 ongoing collaborations with fossil fuel companies that will end no sooner than 2040. 5 of these deals were signed in 2024, and one of them will end only by 2054.

—> Want to know what else we found out about ING’s dirty business? Read the full report here.

ING ‘doing its thing’: deceptive labeling and cover-up

How can ING’s actions be in such contrast with their words? Through our study in collaboration with SOMO, we found that there are major gaps in ING’s assessment methods of whether a company is in a polluting industry.

• ING is deceptive with its labeling. One example: Dow’s core business is chemical production, but they also drill for oil and gas. ING describes Dow as a producer of ‘plastics’. This means Dow won’t be classified as a fossil fuel company in their business reports, even though the company pulled no less than 16 million barrels of oil from the ground in 2023. In 2024, Dow made plans to extract another 35 million barrels more.
• ING only reports the loans it extends to polluting companies. The bank knowingly leaves out another crucial flow of funds to polluters: the bonds they issue. In SOMO’s recent study, ING’s bonds are included to give the full picture.

ING’s customers and our planet deserve better

We urgently need to shift away from oil and gas. In order to do that, we need banks to stop financing companies that are still developing new fossil fuel fields. ING has clearly failed to align its business with important climate goals. It’s time for ING to stop pumping billions of euros into fossil fuels and invest in a green future instead.