COP19 (17/11/13) – Heffa Schücking of CEE Bankwatch Network talks about the role banks play in financing coal production.

In their latest report they look at the global production of coal and have seen that it has grown by 70%.

There has been a massive boom in many regions of the world with horrendous consequences. The booms have been concentrated to nine regions of the world. As part of their research they traveled to these regions to see the other consequences these coal booms were having aside from the impact to the climate.

They also looked into who was financing the coal production in these regions. They discovered that banks were playing a major role in financing coal production around the world. The growth curve shows that between 2005 and now commercial banks financing for the coal mining industry has grown by 400%.