Coordinated by ShareAction, the letters were written to banks including Barclays, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale.
The investors, who include Candriam, La Française Asset Management and Brunel Pension Partnership, expressed concern that new oil and gas fields may jeopardise the global path to net zero.
The investors also warned that these activities were holding back the renewable energy revolution in Europe, which they said was more important than ever as the continent battles with uncertain energy supplies in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The amount of financing these European banks provided to oil and gas expanders between 2016-2021 is as follows: Barclays – $46bn, BNP Paribas – $46bn, Crédit Agricole – $34bn, Societe Generale – $34bn, and Deutsche Bank – $28bn.
Jeanne Martin, head of the banking programme at ShareAction, said: “These investor-backed letters should be a wake-up call to banks that have made...