Major US bank with net-zero commitments and green-bond issuance that nonetheless ranks among the world's top five fossil-fuel financiers per the Banking on Climate Chaos report.
Why it's on ClimateTicker
Citigroup presents a striking contradiction: it markets a $1 trillion sustainable finance goal and net-zero-by-2050 commitments while simultaneously ranking as one of the world's worst fossil fuel financiers — the #1 funder of fossil fuel expansion since the Paris Agreement per Banking on Climate Chaos 2024. Its role on a climate platform is as a cautionary case study in financed-emissions greenwashing, where headline green-bond leadership masks a lending book still deeply entangled with oil, gas, and coal expansion. Investors should weigh its improving transparency and sectoral targets against the stark reality that it exited the Net-Zero Banking Alliance in early 2025 and has increased fossil fuel financing.
Commitments & Certifications
Controversy & Greenwashing Watch
Banking on Climate Chaos 2025 report identified Citigroup as one of only four banks that increased fossil fuel financing by more than $10 billion between 2023 and 2024.source ↗
Citigroup withdrew from the UN-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance in January 2025, joining a wave of major US bank departures amid political pressure, undermining its public net-zero commitments.source ↗
Amazon Watch criticized Citi's 2024 Amazon oil policy update as a 'hollow promise' that still allows funding of Indigenous-land destruction, with Citi named among top Amazon oil and gas funders.source ↗
Climate activists blockaded Citigroup's New York headquarters in 2023 and 2024, with over 75 arrests across multiple actions targeting the bank's fossil fuel financing practices.source ↗
Citi was the second largest Arctic oil and gas funder in 2023, providing $246 million to top Arctic production companies, in direct conflict with its climate commitments.source ↗
Banking on Climate Chaos 2024 names Citigroup the single worst funder of fossil fuel expansion globally since 2016, providing $204 billion to fossil fuel expansion projects.source ↗
Sierra Club found that unlike some peers, Citi has still not set targets for reducing facilitated emissions from bond and equity underwriting, a growing share of fossil fuel capital raising.source ↗
Citi's own 2023 TCFD report disclosed that 71% of energy sector clients lack a substantive transition plan or have one with unclear ability to execute, directly threatening its own net-zero targets.source ↗
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