Amsterdam, 7 July 2026 – ING and Allianz are the largest financiers of companies importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States to the Netherlands, of all financial institutions in the Netherlands. Between 2017 and 2025, ING provided $37 billion in financing to companies involved in the LNG sector, whilst Allianz was the largest investor with $6.6 billion in april 2026. In total, financial institutions in the Netherlands have invested over 60 billion dollars in companies active in this sector since 2017. This is according to research by Profundo commissioned by the Dutch Fair Finance Guide (Eerlijke Geldwijzer).
The research shows that 619 mega-tankers carrying 39 million tonnes of LNG from the US reached the Netherlands between the arrival of the first ship in May 2017 and the end of 2025. That is equivalent to more than five years’ worth of gas consumption by Dutch households. By providing substantial financing for liquefied natural gas, ING and Allianz are doing too little to halt dangerous climate change.
“The financing of liquefied natural gas puts our energy security under pressure and further fuels the climate crisis," says Nicky van Dijk on behalf of the Dutch Fair Finance Guide. According to the research, bank ABN AMRO and pension funds ABP and PFZW have significantly reduced their exposure to LNG in recent years. Triodos Bank and ASN Bank and insurer NN Group (Nationale Nederlanden) do not invest in LNG at all. In doing so, these insurers, banks and pension funds have demonstrated that they are actively working to mitigate dangerous climate change.
Until the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022, a great deal of Europe's liquefied natural gas came from Russia. The war has led to a shift towards LNG from the US. Van Dijk: “We are also seeing this shift in financial flows. ING and Allianz are keeping us dependent on fossil fuels. The US has become an unreliable geopolitical player, making it dangerous to be dependent on gas from the US. Shifting gas supplies from Russia to the US is by no means a guarantee of energy security for the Netherlands. Moreover, this slows down the energy transition in the Netherlands. True energy independence comes from domestically produced wind and solar energy, not from continuing to pour money into gas from the US.”
LNG from the US is mostly shale gas extracted via fracking, a polluting method of gas extraction in which large quantities of toxic substances are injected into the ground, often leading to significant pollution and damage to the surrounding environment. Furthermore, preventing the ‘lock-in effect’ is essential. Van Dijk: "When oil and gas companies build new LNG infrastructure, they create an economic straitjacket. Because these massive capital investments have to be written off over several decades, they force a long-term dependence on fossil fuels. With every investment in LNG, ING and Allianz are therefore creating their own resistance to the energy transition."
Companies that are still fully committed to expanding fossil fuel projects are acting contrary to climate science. The same applies to continuing to finance these companies. That is why it is essential that all banks, pension funds and insurers stop financing companies that are still launching new oil and gas projects, says the Dutch Fair Finance Guide, a partnership between Oxfam Novib, Friends of the Earth Netherlands - Milieudefensie, Amnesty International, World Animal Protection and PAX.
The Dutch Fair Finance Guide is a partnership between: Oxfam Novib, Friends of the Earth Netherlands - Milieudefensie, Amnesty International, World Animal Protection and PAX.
For questions regarding the content and interviews with Nicky van Dijk, please contact: Matthijs Kettelerij, acting press officer a.i. at Friends of the Earth Netherlands - Milieudefensie, +31 (0) 618512891, matthijs.kettelerij@milieudefensie.nl.
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