Library | ESG issues
Fossil Fuel Industry
The fossil fuel industry includes coal, crude oil, and natural gas, which are carbon-intensive energy sources formed from ancient organic material. Their extraction and use are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, environmental destruction, and climate change. In the finance industry, fossil fuels present both risks and opportunities, as investors assess regulatory challenges, transition risks, stranded asset potential, and shifting market demand while also exploring opportunities in cleaner energy alternatives and low-carbon transition strategies.
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INDRA: A New AI Tool for Exploring Tobacco, Fossil Fuel, and Chemical Industry Archives
INDRA is an AI-powered platform for searching and analysing extensive archives of internal tobacco, fossil fuel, and chemical industry documents to trace corporate influence and liability.
Still Banking on Coal
Still Banking on Coal is a dataset by Urgewald that tracks global bank financing for the thermal coal industry. It provides transparency on loans and underwriting from over 740 banks, highlighting the gap between climate commitments and actual financial flows.
European electricity review 2026
In 2025, EU wind and solar generation surpassed fossil fuels for the first time, reaching a 30% share. Despite record solar growth, gas usage rose due to lower hydroelectric output. The report highlights accelerating battery deployment and offers policy recommendations for grid flexibility and electrification to enhance energy security.
Maritime chokepoints and the global economy: Evidence from the Strait of Hormuz
This research examines the global economic consequences of maritime disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Utilising Portwatch data, the analysis demonstrates that traffic shocks act as stagflationary forces, significantly increasing energy prices, reducing global industrial production, and tightening financial conditions through widened corporate and sovereign bond spreads.
Locked in and priced out: How coal power contracts fuel debt and delay the energy transition
This report examines how rigid power purchase agreements for coal power in India, Indonesia, and Pakistan create unsustainable debt and delay the energy transition. It highlights how these contracts lock in expensive, polluting energy and proposes policy solutions including payouts, technology swaps, renegotiation, and litigation.
The Box: syndication fee league tables
This benchmark series provides transparency on bank syndication fees, comparing income from sustainable and unsustainable activities. It tracks league tables for global and regional financial institutions, including the ASEAN and Japanese markets. The analysis enables investors to incentivise behavioural change by identifying banks that continue to prioritise fossil fuel financing.
Prepare or pay: Counting the cost of climate-fuelled bushfires
This report quantifies the economic burden of climate-fuelled bushfires in Australia, projecting an average annual cost of $6 billion. It examines how climate change intensifies fire weather and provides recommendations for federal investment in preparedness, community resilience, and the rapid reduction of coal, oil, and gas pollution.
Renewable electrification as a means of transitioning away from fossil fuels: From commitment to implementation at COP31
This report evaluates renewable-based electrification as a pillar for transitioning away from fossil fuels. It proposes the ‘35 by 35’ target, analyses progress in five key countries, and outlines action priorities for COP31. The focus is on integrating renewables, efficiency, and equitable finance to accelerate global decarbonisation.
Oil spill 2: How fossil fuel interests are polluting the US's carbon market rulemaking
This report investigates the influence of fossil fuel companies and trade associations on US carbon market regulations. It details extensive lobbying in California and representative roles at the federal level, arguing that these efforts maintain low-quality credits to delay genuine decarbonisation and enable greenwashing.
Seeing green: The effects of financial exposures on support for climate action
This research evaluates a randomised controlled trial using financial exposure to the energy sector to build support for climate action. Findings demonstrate that ownership of green and brown assets increases support for mitigation policies through a learning mechanism, where participants consume more financial news and improve their environmental knowledge.
Carbon Impacts Tracer
The Carbon Impacts Tracer is a scientific tool that links CO2 emissions from specific fossil fuel projects and companies to global warming impacts. It enables users to quantify climate consequences such as heat stress, crop loss, and coral degradation.
Economics of demand-side and supply-side climate policies
This research evaluates demand-side and supply-side climate policies, recommending a portfolio that combines carbon use and extraction pricing to mitigate emissions leakage. It emphasises transmission reform, innovation support, and green industrial policies while analysing the domestic and global distributional consequences for low-income and major fossil fuel producing nations.
AI-driven productivity gains enable more CO₂ emissions than they avoid in a global energy–economy model
Research using a global energy-economy model indicates that AI-driven productivity gains increase net annual CO2 emissions by 0.47–1.8 gigatonnes under parallel adoption. Enabled emissions from fossil sectors consistently exceed avoided emissions from renewables. Achieving net reductions requires renewable productivity gains to be four to five times greater than fossil gains.
Limited impacts of shareholder pressure on climate strategy of fossil firms
This research examines shareholder pressure on US fossil fuel firms’ climate strategies. Using NLP to analyse 10-K filings and SEC regulatory changes, it finds limited impact on substantive reforms. Firms often employ symbolic disclosures or procedural tactics to resist decarbonisation, suggesting that mandatory policy is required for transition.
Financing the energy transition: A credit perspective on India’s power sector
This report examines India’s power sector transition from a credit perspective. It highlights the structural divergence between renewable and thermal assets, identifies bottlenecks in domestic debt markets, and recommends strategies to unlock large-scale financing, including the pivotal role of NTPC and the need for deeper institutional investor participation.
Interactive data tool on Middle East energy reliance
Developed by the International Energy Agency, this interactive tool tracks global energy market impacts stemming from Middle East conflicts. It monitors commodity shipping flows, policy responses, and supply disruptions.
