SOME of Britain’s biggest banks are not only continuing to plough billions into oil and gas, but are throwing “ever larger sums into environmentally damaging industries,” according to a new report today.

An earlier Banking on Climate Chaos report had revealed that after three years of retreating from such investment, from 2024, global banking was once again piling into fossil fuels, committing £648 billion.

Looking at the environmental policies of 16 current account providers in the UK, Which?, alongside non-governmental research groups Reclaim Finance and Global Canopy, have concluded that they have followed that trend.

Just two banks, the Co-operative Bank and Triodos Bank, earned the title of “eco-provider,” with no involvement in fossil fuels, while seven — Barclays, Chase, Danske Bank, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander — were found to contribute significantly to fossil fuel finance.

JP Morgan Chase — the biggest fossil fuel financier in the world with £40bn invested — fared worst with oil and gas policies which actively encouraged fossil fuel operations, at the same time as watering-down anti-deforestation requirements on some companies.

A spokesperson for JP Morgan Chase argued the firm was also the “leading global financier of diversified energy sources” and had plans to expand its investment in climate initiatives to one trillion US dollars (£750m) by 2030.

Deputy editor of Which? Money Sam Richardson said: “Many consumers want to make sustainable choices, but a lack of accountability and transparency in the banking sector can make it hard to understand where customers’ money is really going.

“Worryingly, our latest research has shown that far from making progress in this area, many major banks are instead choosing to invest ever larger sums into environmentally damaging industries.”