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Europe
The Guardian

World’s largest banks pledged $906bn to fossil fuel companies in ‘unfathomable’ increase in 2025, report finds

Climate activists, including Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, protest against Chase’s support of Total Energies' EACOP pipeline at JPMorgan Chase headquarters in Manhattan on 29 May 2026. Photograph: Gina M Randazzo/Zuma Press Wire/ShutterstockView image in fullscreenClimate activists, including Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, protest against Chase’s support of Total Energies' EACOP pipeline at JPMorgan Chase headquarters in Manhattan on 29 May 2026. Photograph: Gina M Randazzo/Zuma Press Wire/ShutterstockFossil fuelsWorld’s largest banks pledged $906bn to fossil fuel companies in ‘unfathomable’ increase in 2025, report findsJPMorgan Chase leads 65 banks making decisions incompatible with restraining rising temperatures, researchers say The world’s largest banks committed $906bn in financing to the fossil fuel industry last year, an “unfathomable” increase in investment locking in years more of coal, oil and gas production as the world continues to overheat, a new report has found. The surge in new fossil fuel lending, up $64bn or nearly 8% on 2024, shows that the world’s largest 65 banks are making decisions incompatible with international agreements to restrain rising global temperatures, according to the coalition of environmental groups behind the new analysis. JPMorgan Chase is again the world’s leading financier of fossil fuels, according to the annual Banking on Climate Chaos report, after pushing $58bn to the sector last year – up 13% from 2024. Bank of America committed the second largest amount to fossil fuels last year, followed by Japanese banks MUFG and Mizuho Financial. Citigroup, another US bank, rounds out the top five, with Barclays, at number eight, the highest placed British bank. View image in fullscreenThe Bank of America Tower in New York on 11 October 2025. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images“Last year was the first year where we were hoping to see a continuous decrease in historical numbers, but we actually saw that increase and then that continues this year,” said Caleb Schwartz, a policy analyst at Rainforest Action Network, one of the groups behind the report. “So it’s a troubling trend.” Asked for comment about its fossil fuel lending, a JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said: “As one of the world’s largest financiers of energy, we support the full range of energy solutions and technologies, with a focus on reliability, affordability, security and long-term resilience. We believe our data reflects our activities more comprehensively and accurately than estimates by third parties.” In 2015, countries agreed in the Paris climate deal to strive to avert a breaching of 1.5C in global heating above preindustrial times, beyond which the world will suffer ever more ruinous heatwaves, floods, droughts and other climate-fueled disasters. View image in fullscreenThe Enbridge terminal and pipelines next to the Suncor energy refinery on 23 August 2023 in Alberta, Canada. Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty ImagesAvoiding such a threshold would require the near elimination of planet-heating emissions from fossil fuel production. Since the Paris agreement, however, the world’s largest banks have funnelled $8.7tn to the fossil fuel industry to dig and drill for more coal, oil and gas. Scientists now predict that the 1.5C limit will be breached imminently, with a recent string of record hot years set to be further surpassed this decade. In the wake of the US and Israel’s attack on Iran, which has escalated the global cost of oil and gas, several of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies have reported surging profits this year. “The fossil fuel incumbents are not going out with a whimper,” said Niko Lusiani, a climate and energy expert who edited this year’s report. “They are doubling down to expand an increasingly fragile, unreliable, risky energy system.”

World’s largest banks pledged $906bn to fossil fuel companies in ‘unfathomable’ increase in 2025, report finds
North America
CNBC Finance

Food supply 'not at risk' after new Texas screwworm cases, USDA secretary says

The U.S. food supply is "not at risk" from the return of the flesh-eating screwworm ​parasite to Texas, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Monday. "This is not a virus, it's not a disease, it's just a little pest, a larva that lands in a calf's wound, for example, and it can be treated," Rollins said in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "We have boots on the ground … we'll be able to beat this back, but we're going to do everything we can, investing over a billion dollars to push this pest back into Mexico, then to eradicate, as we did about 50 years ago," she later added. Her comments came shortly before the USDA confirmed two additional cases of screwworm discovered in Texas — one in a calf in La Salle County and another in a dog in Andrews County — bringing the total cases to four. While the dog's case was reported by a veterinarian in Texas, the animal lives in New Mexico, the USDA classified as a New Mexico case. The department said New Mexico officials will increase monitoring and outreach in the area. The USDA confirmed the first positive case of screwworm in Texas on Wednesday. The screwworm cases are the first in the U.S. since the 1960s. The potential for the pest spreading and disrupting the U.S. food supply has led to a response in Texas and Washington D.C., including President Donald Trump's Monday appointment of John Bellinger, a longtime executive in food safety and distribution firms, as as a senior advisor for New World screwworm preparedness. The New World screwworm is a parasitic fly whose larvae burrow into the flesh of living warm-blooded animals, causing painful wounds that can become life-threatening without treatment. The pest poses a risk to livestock, wildlife, pets and, in uncommon cases, people. Screwworms do not infest meat, fruits, vegetables or other food products, according to the USDA. Still, the cases mark a troubling return of the parasite and raise questions about how to keep it from spreading further into the U.S., reviving a threat the country spent decades working to eliminate. Texas agriculture officials, including Commissioner Sid Miller, have criticized the USDA for a slow response that failed to halt the New World screwworm from crossing the border. In response, Rollins said Miller's recent comments are "disturbing and disruptive and so harmful to what we're trying to achieve." She said the U.S. will lean on the same playbook it used starting in the late 1950s, part of which involves releasing sterile insects to suppress the pest's population. She said the U.S. is already dropping around 10 million sterile flies a week on the affected area, both from the air and the ground. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Food supply 'not at risk' after new Texas screwworm cases, USDA secretary says
Europe
BBC Business

US adds BYD to list of firms with alleged Chinese military ties

The US has added several major firms from China including technology giant Alibaba and electric car maker BYD to a list of companies said to have ties with the Chinese military. The Department of Defense's list aims to alert American organisations to the risks of doing business with the Chinese firms, but their inclusion does not mean they are immediately sanctioned. The Chinese embassy in the US told the BBC that the list is "discriminatory" and said firms from China have strictly complied with the laws abroad. The BBC has contacted BYD and several firms on the list for comment. Alibaba's representatives said separately that there is no basis for their companies to have been listed. The list, known as Section 1260H, was announced in a post on the Federal Register on Monday and names some of China's top companies - a move that risks aggravating tensions between Washington and Beijing. The Pentagon list includes more than 80 "Chinese military companies" that are directly or indirectly engaged in providing commercial services for the US. Some of these businesses compete directly with major American companies in industries such as electric vehicles and artificial intelligence. For instance BYD, which does not export its cars to the US, surpassed Tesla earlier this year to become the world's top EV maker. Beijing will likely view the move as a "form of economic containment", said policy analyst Stefanie Kam from the Nanyang Technological University. China could possibly retaliate with tit-for-tat sanctions, add American firms to a list of its own or respond with some form of diplomatic pushback, Kam said. Alibaba, BYD and tech giant Baidu were among companies accused of serving as a military-civil contributor to Chinese defence operations, according to the list. The US appears to have flagged these companies for their participation in state programmes rather than based on clear evidence of contracts with the Chinese military, Kam said.

US adds BYD to list of firms with alleged Chinese military ties
North America
CNBC Economy

Household worries over finances hit highest level since July 2022, New York Fed survey shows

U.S. households grew more worried over their financial situation, with the share of those seeing things as much worse than they were 12 months ago hitting a nearly four-year high, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey. While the central bank's monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations, released Monday, showed the inflation outlook mostly unchanged, the general perception of conditions deteriorated. The share of those seeing their current situation as "much worse" than a year ago leaped to 13.3%, up about 2.7 percentage points from April and the highest since July 2022. The total of those seeing either a much or somewhat worse situation from a year ago stood at 43.7%, which the New York Fed said was the highest since January 2023. Those expecting their situations to be either much or somewhat worse totaled 36%, while those seeing things improving totaled just 22.9%. The net between those seeing better versus worse conditions hit its lowest since October 2022, the New York Fed said in the release. The survey comes with consumers fearful over the inflationary impact from the Iran war, which has sent energy prices soaring. Some Fed policymakers recently have expressed worry that if the conflict persists it could raise inflation expectations among consumers and businesses, making the problem longer term than the typical temporary impact from supply shocks. Inflation expectations at the one-year horizon declined just 0.1 percentage point, to 3.5%. The outlook at the three- and five-year time frames held flat at 3.1% and 3%, respectively. Expectations for gasoline prices actually dropped 0.1 percentage point to 5%, while the outlook for food rose 0.6 percentage point to 5.8% and rent increased 1.4 percentage points to 7.4%. Also, the expectation for household spending growth over the next year fell to 5%, down 0.4 percentage point from April. Consumers will get their next inflation reading Wednesday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the consumer price index for May. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect that headline inflation rose to 4.2% and core inflation, which excludes food and energy, increased to 2.9%. The Fed targets inflation at 2%. The Federal Open Market Committee makes its next interest rate decision on June 17. Markets are pricing in almost no chance the committee will lower benchmark interest rates, with expectations rising that the central bank instead will hike by a quarter percentage point by the end of the year. Correction: Inflation expectations at the one-year horizon declined just 0.1 percentage point, to 3.5%. An earlier version misstated the move. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.

Household worries over finances hit highest level since July 2022, New York Fed survey shows
Europe
The Guardian

On China, Trump picked the right battle but the wrong strategy

Composite: The Guardian/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreen Composite: The Guardian/Getty ImagesUS economyAnalysisOn China, Trump picked the right battle but the wrong strategyEduardo PorterA long trade war looms. Trump’s scattershot protectionism, chaotic tariffs and belligerence against our natural allies guarantees that US trade policy will remain a hot mess In the months since “Liberation Day” last year, when Donald Trump let loose a volley of tariffs against imports from everywhere, countries have rushed to build new relationships in the hope of maybe circumventing the US to protect the global trading system. The European Union hurried to sign a trade agreement with South America’s Mercosur bloc that had been sitting on ice for years. China and south-east Asian nations deepened their trade agreement. The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, travelled to Beijing hoping to build closer ties. Hopes of rebuilding the open trade architecture are probably futile. Global trade will be shaped by an emerging new imperative, to stop China’s export juggernaut and end its lock on the supply of strategic inputs – from pharmaceutical components to critical minerals to essential chips that are vital for industries around the world. The United States will remain China’s main opponent. But other countries, in Europe and elsewhere, are also rummaging through their policy kits to evaluate their options, from tariffs and domestic subsidies to export controls. The war will come at a cost to economic wellbeing. Prices of consumer goods will rise as countries block imports from China. Manufacturers will have to cope with pricier Chinese inputs. Chinese exporters will have a harder time finding markets to place their stuff. And exporters in the US and elsewhere may be locked out of China’s market. The risk that looms high over all others is that China will, as it has done before, leverage its dominance in the critical commodities and products over which it has a near monopoly, cutting off supplies to retaliate against countries that block its products or seek to shake its dominance. Trump, of course, will not manage this well. His scattershot protectionism, raising tariffs across the board with no discernible strategy, and his belligerence against countries that would be natural allies in the brewing conflict, guarantee that American trade policy will remain a hot mess until the end of his term. Hopefully, the next administration will bring strategic thinking to the fight. It is perplexing how the global economy arrived at this spot. China accounts for about a third of the world’s manufacturing output, from only about 5% in 1995. Its share of global manufacturing exports rose from 3% to 20% over the period. It accounts for over 50% of the global exports of hundreds of manufacturing products. Even Germany, with its robust industrial pedigree, is worried that its industry may not survive the Chinese competition. China’s swelling current account surplus – officially 3.8% of its gross domestic product but up to 5% according to some analysts – has become a global threat. Economists observe there is a peaceful path out of this conundrum. Jason Furman, who chaired the US Council of Economic Advisers under president Obama, points out that as a means to improve the welfare of the Chinese, Beijing’s approach looks like a mistake. Getting the Chinese to save less and consume more – say, by building a more generous social safety net – would improve their wellbeing and bolster China’s sluggish economy without flooding the rest of the world with stuff. And yet, Furman also observes that Beijing may be aiming for a different objective: “maximizing your geopolitical dominance; not the economic welfare of your citizens”. Governments well beyond Washington believe this to be the case: China, the story goes, is not merely turbocharging exports to prop up growth. It is building an arsenal for a trade war. Beijing is doing nothing to dispel this fear. In a 2020 speech, President Xi Jinping argued that “we must tighten international production chains’ dependence on China, forming a powerful countermeasure and deterrent capability against foreigners who would artificially cut off supply.”

On China, Trump picked the right battle but the wrong strategy
North America
CNBC Finance

Novo and Lilly are competing to win the GLP-1 pill market as they prepare for Medicare coverage

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly took their GLP-1 pill battle to the preeminent obesity meeting this weekend as they prepare for the next sea change in how patients receive their drugs. Novo Nordisk on Sunday announced that prescriptions of the Wegovy pill have topped 3 million since it entered the U.S. market about five months ago. The Danish drugmaker's CEO Mike Doustdar celebrated the milestone, saying in an interview with CNBC that Novo was able to accelerate prescriptions even as Lilly introduced its own GLP-1 pill in April. "If that's not acceleration, then I don't know what is," Doustdar told CNBC this weekend at the American Diabetes Association's Scientific Sessions. Meanwhile, Lilly CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC that prescriptions of its pill Foundayo are "markedly higher" than the 20,000 that Lilly reported about six weeks ago around its first-quarter earnings release, without giving a specific number. He said the number builds week over week and that Lilly is pleased with the progress. The competition for the weight loss pill market is only the latest for the longtime rivals. Signs of that tension were evident throughout the industry event this weekend. Cars drove around advertising Novo's Wegovy pill, while pictures of Lilly's Foundayo pill covered some of the floors of the convention center in New Orleans. And the two companies will soon make their case for their daily pills and their weekly shots to seniors. Starting in July, millions of people with Medicare will be able to access GLP-1 drugs for weight loss for $50 a month. Until now, Medicare beneficiaries have had to pay out of pocket for the obesity drugs, costing them potentially hundreds of dollars a month. Both companies say they're focused on raising awareness of the program, though they have different pitches. Doustdar thinks the program could be an opportunity to regain some of the ground Novo's Wegovy shot has lost to Lilly's Zepbound. The drugmaker plans to advertise Wegovy's other health benefits on its label, he said, like the fact that it can decrease the risk of cardiovascular problems like heart attacks and strokes. He said Novo should win with seniors "if common sense is to prevail, and I put myself in their shoes." "With the Wegovy high dose, why would you not take a product that has the same efficacy, percentage wise, than my competitor?" he said. "On top of it, you get kidney, liver, heart, stroke protection, let's say free of charge. I would take it if I was 10 years older." Lilly's pitch to seniors is convenience. The company's pill Foundayo can be taken at any time of day with food, water and other medicines, whereas Novo's pill needs to be taken on an empty stomach with little water and requires fasting for 30 minutes afterward. "The main thing is, it's easy," Ricks said. "This is something that can just go in your daily routine. Most seniors are on many other medications, and they've got their pill case, and they use that every day, and this will just fit right into that without any extra thought." Ricks said Lilly is working closely with the government to prepare, and he's confident that Humana, which will process prescription requests, will do a good job. He thinks the program will be popular with seniors and that longer term, the initiative could help prove that obesity care should be "regular health care." "We have to prove that in this pilot and prove cost effectiveness and then kind of reset what we expect from our health insurance, which is obesity care should be health care," Ricks said.

Novo and Lilly are competing to win the GLP-1 pill market as they prepare for Medicare coverage
North America
CNBC Finance

Airlines find the grass isn't always greener with new engines

RIO DE JANEIRO — Airplane engine makers have fallen short of what they promised airlines, major carriers' CEOs say, a problem vexing an industry that has struggled for years with aircraft shortages and more recently, a doubling of fuel prices. It's a paradox: Engine makers dazzled carriers with more fuel-efficient options for new planes from Boeing and Airbus. But production shortfalls and disappointing reliability with those engines are becoming costly problems, CEOs said in interviews at the industry's largest annual gathering here. Airline executives said they're being forced to remove engines and take them for maintenance into crowded shops earlier than expected, which is driving up costs and sucking up the fuel savings they were supposed to get from the engines. Airline leaders told CNBC this week that travel demand is still strong despite higher fares, so having aircraft on the ground means money left on the table, just as a $100 billion higher fuel bill this year is slashing airline profit prospects. Alexis von Hoensbroech, CEO of Canada's WestJet, told CNBC in an interview ahead of the more than 370-airline International Air Transport Association's annual assembly that the new engines promising fuel savings of around 15% or more compared with earlier models were "engineering marvels." "However, as you push the limits, it sometimes comes at the cost of reliability, and what we all are seeing is that those engines have to go into unscheduled maintenance far more frequently than prior engine generations," he said. Newer models of aircraft engines burn hotter, allowing them to use less fuel. That's key since fuel is airlines' biggest cost after labor. But that can also mean they wear out faster, which can ground planes, though carriers keep some spare engines. Von Hoensbroech and other airline executives told CNBC that the new the engines have not reached the reliability that airlines need, through there have been improvements. "That's a big struggle, because it adds a lot of costs," he said. "So a lot of the fuel savings are in fact eaten up by unplanned maintenance costs." Manufacturers have invested heavily in expanding engine overhaul and other maintenance capabilities, while third-party shops have also seen a windfall. New engines are costly, but aircraft production is still behind schedule, and that's keeping older engine values up, too. For example, a CFM56 engine made by GE Aerospace and its French partner Safran that powers older Boeing 737s was going for $9.2 million at the start of the year, up 17% since 2019, according to IBA Group. A Pratt & Whitney PW1127 for newer Airbus narrow-body planes was up more than 57% over that time, according to the aviation intelligence and advisory company.

Airlines find the grass isn't always greener with new engines
North America
CNBC Finance

Italian coffee giant Lavazza launches single-serve tablets to make espresso in the U.S.

Lavazza is bringing its espresso tablets to the U.S., aiming to loosen Keurig Dr Pepper's grip on the single-serve coffee category. The Italian coffee giant unveiled Tablì last year and launched the new brewing system first in Italy. The tablets, made of compressed ground coffee without a coating, binder or gelatin, can only be used with a Tablì coffee machine made by Lavazza. Each tablet is marked with the words "100% coffee. At launch, the tabs will come in five varieties: espresso, double espresso, decaf espresso, super crema and lungo, or a "long shot" espresso brewed with more water. "The result that we've been able to achieve was through a very complicated industrial process in order to be able to have [the coffee tablet] very compact, to be able to deliver it without destroying it, to have it able to work in a coffee machine," Lavazza CEO Antonio Baravalle told CNBC. Tablì is the result of Lavazza's acquisition of the Italian startup Caffemotive in 2020. The new system took five years of development, more than 15 patents and a new production facility in Gattinara, Italy, to bring it to market. Its launch in the U.S. comes as the country becomes an increasingly important part of Lavazza's business. In 2025, the company's North American turnover — or revenue — jumped 26.9%, according to Lavazza. "We are strongly investing in the USA because we think it is an important space for us," Baravalle said, adding that Lavazza aims to eventually have a €1 billion ($1.15 billion) business in the U.S. "The brand is growing, in terms of equity, extremely well," Baravalle said. "We've spent a lot of money, for us, in the last two years, and we're going to do that for the next five years." More than 130 years after its founding, the Lavazza family still privately owns the Italian company. In 2025, it reported net profit of €92 million on net revenues of €3.9 billion, according to Lavazza's latest annual report. In the U.S., it generates more than $100 million in annual dollar sales through retailers like Target and Walmart. For context, Keurig reported annual net sales of $3.99 billion for its U.S. coffee segment in 2025. The majority of Keurig's coffee revenue comes from its K-cups. In the U.S., Keurig has dominated the single-serve coffee market for more than a decade, although Nestle's Nespresso has won over customers in recent years. Keurig holds about half of the total U.S. market share for fresh ground coffee pods, according to data from Euromonitor International. Nespresso holds a roughly 7% share. Of course, Lavazza sells K-cup pods in the U.S. through a partnership with Keurig. "For us, it's important to find our own space, but we are talking about two giants, and one of them, we have an important contract with that we are very happy [with]," he said.

Italian coffee giant Lavazza launches single-serve tablets to make espresso in the U.S.
Europe
BBC Business

Driving test booking rules tightened after thousands of no shows

Learner drivers are now only able to swap their test to the three centres nearest to their original booking location in a bid to cut down waiting times. It comes as official figures shared exclusively with the BBC suggest no-one turned up to take 64,500 practical driving tests last year. The average wait for practical driving tests across Britain is longer than five months. The new rules will stop learners booking the soonest test available anywhere, then making a series of swaps to get a slot closer to home. Learner driver Emma told the BBC she was waking up at 05:30 every Monday to try to book a test only to find herself in a queue of thousands. She now has a test in seven months' time. In England the wait time for a driving test is 22.7 weeks, Scotland 22.9 weeks and in Wales 17.3 weeks, according to figures provided to the BBC by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) for April 2026. Last year, 1,998,608 driving tests were booked in the UK but no one turned up for 64,500 of them meaning 3.2% were wasted, according to the DVSA. Some of these were booked by third party resellers using bots with the intention of charging inflated prices but were unable to sell them, the BBC understands. The number of no shows last year was higher than the 52,000 recorded the previous year. Emma, not her real name, is 21 and has been learning to drive in West London for nearly a year. "Some of my friends who need to drive for work were booking tests at test centres not local to them in areas that they hadn't really driven before...just so that they could get the test and just try and pass as fast as they could," she said. Emma managed to book a test near to where she lives but it is not for seven months. "I'm then paying for lessons every week, which is fine, it's good to have the practice, but when you've got so long until your test, it's just a little bit of a waste of money and a massive time burden," she said.

Driving test booking rules tightened after thousands of no shows