A new Planet Tracker report finds 25 major banks are providing $159 billion in financing to the 15 biggest methane-emitting meat, dairy, and rice producers — while exploiting disclosure loopholes to keep the emissions off their own climate scorecards.
Major global banks are bankrolling the food industry's methane problem, according to a report from think tank Planet Tracker covered by Green Queen. The financing props up meat, dairy, and rice producers responsible for 159 billion dollars' worth of financed methane emissions annually.
The banking sector likes to talk about climate commitments. The lending sheets tell a different story.
Planet Tracker's report, Silence of the Loans, names Royal Bank of Canada, Barclays, and Bank of America as the three institutions with the largest methane footprints tied to their agricultural lending. Deutsche Bank holds around 6% of financed emissions — a relatively modest share — though it's also the only bank on the list with a stated policy of pulling funding from clients unwilling to transition.
JBS and Tyson Foods dominate the borrower side. The two companies account for roughly 27% of the total financed methane emissions tracked in the report, and 19 of the 20 banks reviewed have exposure to Tyson alone.
Why methane matters more than the headline numbers suggest: the gas is over 80 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year horizon and is already responsible for roughly 30% of current global warming. Ground-level ozone linked to methane causes roughly one million premature deaths each year.
Agriculture is the biggest piece of that puzzle. The sector produces around 40% of global methane emissions, with meat and dairy accounting for approximately 32% of human-caused output and rice adding another 8%. Emissions have risen 12% since 2000, and UNEP projects human-caused methane could climb an additional 13% by 2030 without intervention.
The report's most damning finding is structural. Banks publish climate targets that cover direct loans, but roughly 75% of the debt finance flowing to major agrifood emitters comes through bonds, which banks facilitate rather than hold on their balance sheets. That's a disclosure loophole big enough to drive a feedlot through.
Because facilitated finance doesn't require a balance sheet commitment, it falls outside most sustainability targets. Banks can arrange bond issuance for heavy-emitting clients without tripping any of their own reporting triggers. The climate pledge stays intact. The emissions keep flowing.
Of the banks reviewed, all have greenhouse gas targets for the energy sector. Only two (Barclays and Rabobank) have agriculture-specific targets. None have explicit methane reduction goals. Rabobank has pledged to reduce methane by 2050 without specifying a number.
Dietary shifts matter here too. Eliminating beef and lamb alone captures roughly 75% of the greenhouse gas benefit of going fully plant-based, which means consumer demand is one lever — but it's not the lever that moves $159 billion in financing. Planet Tracker's argument is that banks should use their financial leverage to pressure the companies they fund into measurable methane reductions, not wait for individual consumers to solve a systemic problem.
The defense from banks tends to run along familiar lines: we finance the real economy, transition takes time, engagement beats divestment. Planet Tracker's counter is that engagement without measurable targets is just cover. Without agriculture-specific methane goals — which only two of 20 banks even attempt — "engagement" amounts to writing checks while publishing glossy sustainability reports. The think tank wants banks to treat methane as a financial risk in its own right, align with the Global Methane Pledge target of a 30% cut by 2030, and exit clients without credible transition plans.
There's a self-interest argument here too. Climate disruption is already hitting agricultural supply chains, which means credit quality risk for the lenders themselves. Investors are starting to price in the gap between companies with real transition strategies and those coasting on net-zero slide decks.
For anyone tracking the business of food, the Planet Tracker report is a reminder that the plant-based shift isn't only a consumer story about oat milk and plant-based burgers. It's also a capital markets story. The money behind industrial meat and dairy is still cheap and still abundant, and until that changes, the economics of alternatives compete with a heavily subsidized incumbent. Impact over identity means following the dollars, and right now, the dollars are loud.
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Jordan Cooper
Jordan Cooper is a food and culture writer based in Venice Beach, California. Before turning to writing full-time, he spent nearly two decades working in restaurants, first as a line cook, then front of house, eventually managing small independent venues around Los Angeles. That experience gave him an understanding of food culture that goes beyond recipes and trends, into the economics, labor, and community dynamics that shape what ends up on people’s plates.
At VegOut, Jordan covers food culture, nightlife, music, and the broader cultural forces influencing how and why people eat. His writing connects the dots between what is happening in kitchens and what is happening in neighborhoods, bringing a ground-level perspective that comes from years of working in the industry rather than observing it from the outside.
When he is not writing, Jordan can be found at live music shows, exploring LA’s sprawling food scene, or cooking elaborate meals for friends. He believes the best food writing should make you understand something about people, not just about ingredients.
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