ING Halts Funding of Upstream Firms, LNG Terminals

Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation ING is halting the funding of upstream oil and gas companies.

In its Climate Progress Update 2024, ING said it will “stop all new general financing to so-called pure-play upstream oil and gas companies that continue to develop new oil and gas fields,” effective immediately.

The bank also said that it has decided to stop providing new financing for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals after 2025, guided by the IEA World Energy Outlook 2023.

This follows ING’s announcement in December 2023 that it would be phasing out the financing of upstream oil and gas to zero by 2040, as well as setting emissions intensity targets to reach net-zero-by-2050 targets.

“I am proud to see our climate approach keep on developing every year,” ING CEO Steven van Rijswijk said. “In the past year, we’ve taken several important steps to sharpen the way we engage with clients on their transition towards net-zero. We assessed the sustainability disclosures of around 2,000 of our largest clients with an online tool we’ve developed. This gives us the foundation for more data-informed discussions with our clients about their progress and how we can support them in their transition and drive down their emissions. The urgency of climate change is becoming more evident all the time and ING wants to play a leading role in accelerating the global transition to a low-carbon economy. We all have a part to play, and we can all make the difference for present and future generations if we work together towards the same goals”.

ING reiterated its longstanding Environmental and Social Risk (ESR) policies for the energy sector, in which it said it does not finance activities in the exploration, development and production of oil sands, including pipeline infrastructure dedicated to the exclusive use of transporting oil from oil sands and the trading of crude oil derived from oil sands.

The bank also is against financing activities for the exploration, development and production of shale gas in Europe; exploration, development and production and trading of oil and gas in the Amazon in Ecuador and Peru; and Arctic offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration and production.

Meanwhile, ING said it has a Hydrocarbons & New Energies team that is focused on the value chains of three key areas. The first area is low-carbon (or sustainable) fuels, comprising e-fuels and biofuels like hydrogen, ammonia, biomethane and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Many of these sustainable fuels avoid additional carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as these are produced from non-fossil-based feedstock, like green hydrogen or bio-waste.

The second area of focus is recycled feedstock solutions for plastic production through chemical recycling, such as through pyrolysis). “The produced hydrocarbons from this recycling process are now blended in, but can eventually fully replace the fossil-based feedstock,” ING noted in the report.

The third area is carbon capture and storage solutions (CCS), including CO2 capture in industrial areas and storing in depleted gas fields or aquifers.

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