A report by research network portfolio.earth revealed that Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, and JPMorgan Chase & Co provided the most financing to plastics firms without imposing any pro-environment due diligence or exclusion criteria.

The three banks each provided loans worth $144 billion to $172 billion in loans to plastics firms between January 2015 and September 2019.

Environmental campaigners asked 20 global banks, including the three, to make loans to firms from the plastics supply chain, from chemicals, packaging, and drinks manufacturers to retailers, conditional on measures to boost recycling.

The said banks have provided $1.7 trillion financings to 40 companies in the plastics supply chain without imposing any requirements to address plastic pollution in oceans and rivers.

Barclays and HSBC were identified as the largest plastics financiers among European banks, extending $118 billion and $96 billion, respectively.

Plastics have increasingly contaminated environments from ocean depths to the Arctic in recent years.

The reports said that banks could reduce plastic pollution by making loans contingent on re-use and recycling schemes and engaging governments to support such measures.