We have asked the European Commission where the European Union keeps its cash – and this includes budget for the European Green Deal and the European Pillar of Social Rights. The answer? All of the EU budget spends the night in some of the world’s most polluting banks! For more details, please see the section on Background Information below. In 2023, the EU had an annual budget of over €190 billion – including the budget that is supposed to get the EU Fit for 55. This money currently spends the night in some of the world’s most polluting banks — institutions that lend hundreds of billions for fossil fuels, deforestation, and other harmful industries. What does that mean concretely, you can also read in our Euronews op-ed. In the journey towards climate neutrality, we don’t have much time. So, where the EU chooses to put our money, matters. To give perspective: €1 million held in a fossil-heavy bank for a year could easily result in emissions of 650 tons of CO2, based on the bank’s financed emissions. While that same EU budget held on a sustainable bank account would have up to 6 times less negative climate impact! This would bring the EU quicker and closer to true net zero by merely leveraging already existing resources. It would also help fund the scale-up of EU cleantechs – helping the EU to remain competitive. And the best thing about it? There are no additional costs involved!

Only by switching bank accounts, the EU would contribute to bridging the green investment gap and supercharging the green transition free of charge!

That is not only in line with Mario Draghi’s vision for the EU, but also needed to make most out of the ambitious plans, as shows the report Draghi’s Blind Spot: Making EU Prosperity Inclusive and Secure by febea.

The European Commission has accounts with Member States’ treasuries, central banks and commercial banks. Own resources, the main source of EU revenue, are credited to the European Commission accounts held with Member States’ treasuries or central banks. From there, the European Commission transfers the necessary funds to its accounts with commercial banks from which most of payments are made to EU beneficiaries. Accounts with commercial banks are opened for the purpose of executing payments and receiving receipts other than the Member State contributions to the budget and carry out those payments to beneficiaries and creditors which cannot be carried out through the accounts with Member State treasuries or through the central banks. For more information, you can find the full response to our request for information on the private banking relationships of the European Union here. To identify the most polluting banks in the world, we relied on the Banking on Climate Chaos Report 2024, a joint effort among Rainforest Action Network (RAN), BankTrack, Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), Oil Change International (OCI), Reclaim Finance, the Sierra Club, and Urgewald. The Banking on Climate Chaos report constitutes the largest and most comprehensive analysis of major global banks’ financing of fossil fuels. With the 2024 edition, the analysis includes the loans and underwriting activities of the 60 largest global banks and covers a broader scope of the sector, including the entire value chain. For more information and the methodology used, please take a look at the full report here.

The EU needs to switch to sustainable banks to unlock funding for the green transition, and we need your support – join the #EUSwitchBanks campaign and add your voice. In addition, you can also make an impact at your personal level. If you’re unsure where to start, Bank for Good EU has made it easy to find a bank that aligns with your values. That means fossil fuel-free banks who are not using your money to contribute towards the climate crisis. Learn more and discover a bank that matches your values and supports a sustainable future: bankforgoodeu.com.

In case you have any questions, comments or would like to collaborate on this project, please send an email to info@sustainablebankingcoalition.eu.

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