Three more banks have announced their support for the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Principles for Sustainable Trade Finance, now backed by lenders covering up to 25% of global trade finance volumes, the organisation says.
The news comes as fresh data shows that the world’s largest banks increased their fossil fuel financing in 2024 over the previous year.
Major lenders Commerzbank, ING and Santander Corporate and Investment Banking have endorsed the ICC’s framework. However, they have not yet indicated whether they will follow Standard Chartered in aligning their trade finance practices with the principles.
The ICC says it views endorsement as a first step, and expects more banks to align their internal processes with the framework over time.
The ICC launched the principles in October 2024 to standardise how sustainable trade finance is assessed, verified and reported.
They are divided into three product areas: green trade finance, sustainability-linked loans and sustainability-linked supply chain finance.
The ICC says the principles offer a “robust methodology for evaluating sustainable trade finance transactions”. They include an approach for assessing use-of-proceeds in trade finance transactions, propose due diligence protocols for sustainability verification and aim to unify reporting standards to ensure consistency across financial institutions.
“This is a strong signal of market alignment behind a common framework to scale sustainable trade finance in a practical, credible and commercially viable way,” says ICC chair Philippe Varin.
“We look forward to more banks endorsing the ICC principles ahead of Cop30 in November – sending a clear signal that trade is a core part of the solution to climate change.”
Beyond the ICC’s methodology, the three banks have broad climate commitments.
Germany’s Commerzbank is committed to achieving net zero in its own operations – not including financing – by 2040, through carbon emissions reductions and offsets. It also “aims to achieve” net zero in its loan and investment portfolio by 2050 as well as allocating 10% of new loan business to sustainable projects “in the long term”.
ING has a range of environmental policies, including its ‘Tera’ approach, which aims to “steer” its portfolios in high-emissions sectors towards net zero by 2050, the bank says.
Last October, it became the first major global bank to end general financing to pure-play upstream oil and gas companies that continue to explore and develop new fields, which was met with a mixed reaction from climate campaigners.
Santander is committed to net-zero emissions from lending and operations by 2050, with intermediate targets in 2030 that aim to reduce the bank’s exposure to thermal coal and clients that depend on the fuel for over 10% of revenues.
Santander, Commerzbank, ING and Standard Chartered are also members of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), which has suffered a series of defections from North American banks in the last seven months.
“Currently, political developments, particularly in the US, are increasingly moving away from sustainable approaches,” says Bettina Storck, chief sustainability officer at Commerzbank.
“We remain committed to our sustainability efforts. The transformation to a sustainable economy affects all our customers. It is our goal to support them in this transformation with innovative products and services. In doing so, we meet our stakeholders’ expectations for sustainable banking and fulfil our convictions and social responsibilities.”
Fossil finance on the rise
The news coincides with the publication of the 16th annual Banking on Climate Chaos report, which reveals that the world’s 65 largest banks collectively financed fossil fuel projects to the tune of US$869bn in 2024, a dramatic jump from the year before.
It also says that fossil fuel funding has grown by US$162.5bn since 2023, marking the first increase year-on-year since 2021.
The report is compiled by a group of NGOs, including BankTrack, Oil Change International and Urgewald.
The three largest financiers of fossil fuels last year were JP Morgan, Citigroup and Bank of America, according to the report.
All three increased their fossil fuel financing year on year and were among the six major US banks to pull out of the NZBA over the last year.
Citigroup says in response to GTR that it “supports the transition to a low-carbon economy and, in 2021, made a commitment to reach net-zero greenhouse gas financed emissions by 2050”. It also notes that it has a US$1tn sustainable finance goal and works with clients to decarbonise their businesses and support clean energy solutions.
JP Morgan did not respond to a request for comment. Bank of America declined to comment.
The banks endorsing the ICC principles rank among the top 50 institutions for fossil fuel financing, the report shows.
Additionally, three of them increased their financing for fossil fuels since 2023, according to the document. Commerzbank, ranked 43rd, increased its financing by US$1.4bn, Standard Chartered, ranked 30th, grew its backing by US$3.6bn and Santander, ranked 18th, expanded funding by US$3.3bn.
ING, ranked 32nd, cut its fossil fuel finance by US$3.2bn.
Commerzbank tells GTR it does not comment on studies conducted by other organisations or institutions. It adds that sustainability is a core component of its corporate strategy, and aims to promote “rethinking and innovative solutions across all sectors rather than categorically excluding entire industries”.
Standard Chartered declined to comment on the report itself, but a spokesperson says it is “one of very few banks to have set science-based targets for all 12 of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance recommended sectors”.
ING had not provided comment by the time of publication. Santander declined to comment.
“This year, banks have shown their true colours – many have walked away from climate commitments and doubled down on financing fossil fuel expansion, even as global temperatures break records,” says Lucie Pinson, director and founder of Reclaim Finance and a co-author of the report.
“A few European banks may have inched forward, but for most, the lure of dirty money has proven too strong.
“We need to face facts: the only way banks will contribute to addressing the climate crisis and its devastating human toll is if they are made to. All stakeholders must act now – starting with the supervisory authorities whose mandate is to protect the financial system from the growing risks of climate change.”
