Major French banks rule out Galilee coal investment. Meanwhile, in Australia…

Australia’s big four banks have come under renewed pressure to rule out financing the development of mega-coal mines in Queensland’s Galilee Basin and associated Abbot Point port and rail expansion, after France’s three biggest banks became the latest to reject investment in the controversial projects.

In separate letters to Friends of the Earth France, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, and Credit Agricole all said that they would not finance proposed coal mines in the Galilee Basin or their associated infrastructure.

The new commitments bring the total number of big banks to formally boycott the coal projects to 10, including US banking giants Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, as well as HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Like those before them, the French banks rank among some of the world’s biggest lenders to the coal industry: BNP Paribas has been the fifth biggest lender to coal mining in Australia since 2008; and by country of origin, France is the fifth biggest source of debt finance to the Australian fossil fuel industry.

But the Galilee projects – mostly owned by debt-ridden Indian coal conglomerate Adani Resources – have been highly criticised for the environmental threat they pose to the nearby World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef, and for the sheer quantity of heavy-polluting coal they would introduce into a struggling market and a world battling catastrophic climate change.

Most importantly, though, from a market perspective, they have been deemed economically unviable, as the already bad financial outlook for new coal proposals become steadily worse.

But the weight of evidence against new coal development was not enough to stop the newly elected Queensland Labor government from giving the Galilee projects the green light – albeit, without funding – and has so far failed to move Australia’s Big Four banks to rule out financial support.

It’s a position that confounds market analysts and environmentalists alike – but one that is undoubtedly buoyed by the federal government’s unwavering support of all things coal.

“That so many of the world’s biggest lenders to the coal industry can come out and public declare themselves as not involved speaks volumes about how unacceptable this project is from an environmental, reputational and economic standpoint,” said Market Forces Lead Campaigner Julien Vincent in a statement on Thursday.

“It is astounding that banks based in New York, Paris, Edinburgh and Frankfurt are doing more to defend the Reef and climate from new coal project than our own Aussie banks.”

Australian Greens leader Christine Milne said the French banks’ decision highlighted the economic and reputational risks attached to the projects.

“This project is a flashing ‘stranded-asset’ light to global investors,” Senator Milne said in a statement.

“These French banks are some of the world’s biggest coal industry lenders and even they can see that investing in the Galilee Basin coal mines is environmentally and financially reckless,” she said.

Global fossil fuel divestment campaigner, 350.org, has seized the opportunity to call on Australian banks to follow the lead of the French banks, with a particular focus on the Commonwealth Bank – which has been advising and looking to finance Adani.

“Any project which is based on doubling down on coal at a time when the world’s biggest economies are taking active steps to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels is doomed to failure,” said Blair Palese, CEO of 350.org Australia.

“The choice for CommBank is clear — they can either heed the community’s concerns and join with the other banks in ruling out funding for these projects or they’ll face sustained actions at branches across the country.”

The 350.org Australia campaign will being with a week of “actions” at dozens of CommBank branches around the country from 19-23 May.