Big Oil and Big Finance are willing to kill their customers and destroy planetary health so top executives can buy yachts, have multiple homes, fly in private jets, and throw lavish parties.

Last year the world’s largest banks contributed nearly a trillion dollars to burn the world down, delivering $906 billion in financing to the fossil fuel industry to lock in decades more of coal, natural gas (methane), and oil production.

Meanwhile, a study published last week noted people in the United States are poised to endure another summer of ferocious heat. The study also found there will be little respite in the years ahead. The number of annual heat-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations are projected to more than double in the next 15 years, from about 109,000 cases now to as many as 237,000 cases by 2040.

In turn, this spike in heat-related illness will nearly double associated health-care costs to more than $1 billion annually, according to the study. This growing string of punishingly hot summers will also continue to tax underfunded and understaffed public health systems.

Severe heat, fueled by our persistent burning of fossil fuels, kills more people in the United States annually than all other extreme weather events combined, with deaths increasing by more than 50% over the past two decades.

Fossil fuel executives and their Wall Street cohorts don’t care, because the climate crisis is largely felt — at this moment in time, at least — by low-wealth families who are unable to afford air conditioning, people who work outside for a living, senior citizens, those who have existing health conditions, the working class, and future generations.

The average U.S. household, for example, is expected to spend about $800 on electricity this summer, up more than 10% from last year, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association and the Center for Energy Poverty and Climate.

The surge in 2025 fossil fuel lending — up $64 billion or nearly 8% from 2024 — shows the world’s 65 largest banks are making decisions incompatible with international agreements to curb rising global temperatures, according to the coalition of environmental groups behind the Banking on Climate Chaos: Fossil Fuel Financial Report 2026.

JPMorgan Chase is again the world’s leading fossil fuel financier, pushing $58.2 billion into the sector last year, up 13% from 2024. Bank of America committed the second largest amount, followed by two Japanese banks and Citigroup, another U.S. bank.

The report found fossil fuel lending is becoming more concentrated among a selection of large institutions responsible for nearly 40% of all industry funding. Environmental groups have labeled these institutions the “Dirty Dozen.”

While the vast majority of fossil fuel financing comes from six jurisdictions — Canada, China, Japan, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States — the latter “dominates as a financial center providing bank financing for fossil fuels.” U.S. fossil fuel corporations also received 45.4% of all Big Oil financing in 2025.

The authors of the 17th edition of the report wrote:

“Affordable energy, environmental justice, respect for human rights, and a livable climate are all critical pillars of society, and all profoundly influenced by choices made by the world’s largest banks. Many of these banks continue to put their — and our — money into the fragile fossil fuel energy system, which has become a source of great wealth for the few and a deepening fault line of vulnerability for everyone else.”

Since the Paris Agreement on climate was signed in 2016, the top banks have financed nearly $9 trillion in oil, methane, and coal operations, according to the 72-page report.

The report’s authors called it an “unfathomable amount of money,” writing that “if instead allocated to lending and underwriting renewables over the past decade, would have made our global energy system more affordable, more resilient, more secure, and more climate-proof today.”

The filthy rich and their political allies only care about power and wealth. They have taken a flamethrower to democracy, the natural world, and the human race.

We can stop this from happening. Stop doing business with these life-sucking banks and other vile corporations, such as Amazon, Meta, Oracle, Tesla, and Walmart. Stop voting for hate, hypocrisy, ignorance, greed, and weakness. Support renewable energy the best you can. Drive less and use public transit. Do the best you can to invest in environmentally aware and socially responsible businesses. Run for office. Buy local whenever you can.

To quote Rage Against the Machine, “It has to start somewhere. It has to start sometime. What better place than here? What better time than now?”

Frank Carini can be reached at [email protected]. His opinions don’t reflect those of ecoRI News.