13 banks will not finance Papua LNG
The success
As of February 2025, 13 key financial institutions have indicated that they will not finance the Papua LNG project, according to DefundTotalEnergies. These include ANZ, BNP Paribas, Bank of South Pacific, Crédit Mutuel subsidiary CIC, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Crédit Agricole, Intesa Sanpaolo, National Australia Bank, Natixis / BPCE Group, Société Générale, UniCredit Group and Westpac.
BankTrack's role
BankTrack is an NGO partner of the Defund TotalEnergies campaign, which has led the effort to secure commitments from banks not to finance the Papua LNG project. We have also supported the project by hosting a Dodgy Deal profile of the project, written together with Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR), Friends of the Earth US, Jubilee Australia Research Centre, Market Forces and Reclaim Finance.
Thanks to Japanese bank MUFG, TotalEnergies is developing a new climate bomb in Papua New Guinea: the “Papua LNG” liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which will lead to the emission of over 220 million tonnes of CO2.
This project confirms TotalEnergies’ intention to establish itself in Papua New Guinea. In 2012, the French major acquired the Elk and Antelope gas fields in the country’s southern Gulf province. It has also acquired other oil and gas exploration licenses, notably in deep water (source Rystad).
At a time when Papua New Guinea could be developing vast quantities of renewables for 100 times less money, the Papua LNG project is continuing the race for gas in the country, with the support of Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), which is backing TotalEnergies in the financial package for the project. MUFG replaced the French bank Crédit Agricole, which withdrew from the project in 2024 following criticism over the climate, biodiversity and human rights impacts. Yet MUFG has committed to achieving net zero on a 1.5°C trajectory. According to the IEA, this is incompatible with the development of new fossil fuel projects, including LNG!
However, 13 key financial institutions – including 12 that had supported ExxonMobil’s PNG LNG project – have already indicated that they will not finance the Papua LNG project. But 12 other financial institutions who had provided financing for the PNG LNG project have yet to make a statement. TotalEnergies may also approach other financiers that financed some of its other LNG projects in the region.
For more information, see the Papua LNG project page on defundtotalenergies.org.
