Despite investor and social pressure, banks throughout the world continue to lend money and underwrite bonds issued by oil, gas, and coal businesses, Bloomberg data showed on Monday, with bond deals in fossil fuels organised by banks totalling about $250 billion in 2021.

According to data published by Bloomberg as of December 3, JP Morgan sponsored the most loans and bonds combined this year, followed by Wells Fargo, Citi, RBC, and Mitsubishi UFJ.

This year, Wells Fargo has been the largest lender to the fossil fuel industry, with the majority of its exposure to the sector going to business loans.

While environmentalists urge Wall Street banks and all banks worldwide to avoid financing fossil fuels, large banks argue that by continuing to finance oil and gas, they are assisting the sector in investing in low-carbon energy alternatives that will help decarbonize the global energy system.

“It is really important that our clients take steps to innovate and decarbonize, but we also need to bring capital to the table for the commercialization of those solutions,” Marisa Buchanan, Global Head of Sustainability at JPMorgan Chase & Co, told Bloomberg.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in May that banks should fund low-carbon climate-resilient projects rather than large fossil-fuel infrastructure that is no longer cost-effective.

Speaking at the 2021 Petersberg Climate Dialogue, Guterres said, “We can no longer afford big fossil fuel infrastructure anywhere. Such investments simply deepen our predicament. They are not even cost-effective.”