Since 2016, after the COP20 in Paris, the world agreed to limit Global Warming to 1.5 degrees.  In 2021, the International Energy Agency issued its Net Zero by 2050 scenario, underlining the need for a rapid transition out of coal. It was the year in which the Glasgow COP agreed to accelerate the phase-down of coal and in which commercial banks launched the Net Zero Banking Alliance.  2016 should have been a turning point; 2021 should have been a turning point, but the global banking industry missed both turns. Urgewald's research Still Banking on Coal uses the Global Coal Exit List to show that commerical banks still injected $470 billion into the industry since January 2021.

At a time when the UN warns that greenhouse gas emissions must be cut in half by 2030, pension funds, insurers, mutual funds and asset managers are still gambling away our future by sinking money into the world’s worst climate offenders. According to Urgewald's research, over 7,500 institutional investors hold bonds and shares in coal, oil and gas companies from our Global Coal Exit List and our Global Oil & Gas Exit List.

Urgewald, Stop EACOP, Oilwatch Africa, Africa Coal Network and 33 further African NGOs released the report at the UN Climate Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh in November 2022. The report identifies 200 companies that are exploring or developing new fossil fuel reserves or developing new fossil infrastructure such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, pipelines or gas- and coal-fired power plants in Africa.