The Money Trail Behind Fossil Fuel Expansion in Latin America & the Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean are a global hotspot of fossil fuel expansion.

The report identifies 190 oil and gas companies from 42 countries that are exploring and developing new hydrocarbon reserves or building new fossil fuel infrastructure in the region. 47% of all new oil and gas resources under development in Latin America and the Caribbean are located in Brazil, the host country of COP 30. Brazil’s petroleum regulator ANP is opening many of the country’s most vulnerable ecological regions – including the Great Amazon Reef System and priority conservation areas in the Amazon – for oil and gas exploitation. In total, more than 8,800 km of new oil and gas pipelines are planned in the region. 19 new LNG export terminals are proposed or under development in Latin America and the Caribbean. If completed, these projects could produce more than 97 million tons of LNG per year, boosting the region’s liquefaction capacity by 470%. Over two-thirds of the new LNG export capacity is planned in Mexico, with the bulk of projects concentrated in the Gulf of California. Additionally, more than 54,000 MW of new gas-fired power capacity is planned or underway in the region.

From 2022–2024, 297 banks channeled US $138.5 billion to companies developing new fossil fuel projects in the region. The top financier is the Spanish bank Santander ($9.9bn), followed by JPMorgan Chase ($8.1bn), Citigroup ($7.9bn) and Scotiabank ($7.2bn).

In total, 92% of bank financing for fossil fuel expansion in in the region, comes from outside the region, primarily from Europe, the US, Canada, China and Japan. On the investor side, over 6,400 institutional investors hold US $425 billion in shares and bonds of companies developing new fossil fuel projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. 96% of institutional investments in fossil fuel expansion companies are held outside the region. The top 3 institutional investors are Vanguard ($40.9bn), BlackRock ($35.3bn) and Capital Group ($16.8bn) from the US.

The report features in-depth case studies from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Peru and Suriname. The release is accompanied by an online fossil fuel expansion monitor and a finance dashboard.

Report, monitor and dashboard are also available at https://whofundsfossilfuels.com/.