A coalition of 21 civil society organisations (CSOs) from around the world has sent a joint open letter to 17 major banks from Europe, United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea, urging them to cease funding the for South Korean steel giant POSCO’s coal-based blast furnace relining projects.

Coordinated by BankTrack and Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), the letter warns that POSCO’s proposed relining of two ageing blast furnaces in the cities of Pohang and Gwangyang, South Korea would lock the company into at least 15 more years of carbon-intensive steelmaking, directly contradicting global climate goals and financiers’ own sustainability commitments. 

Blast furnace relining is a capital-intensive refurbishment that extends the life of coal-based steelmaking by another 15-20 years, delaying the transition to cleaner alternatives like renewable energy electric arc furnaces or green hydrogen-based methods. By continuing to finance these projects, banks risk enabling long-term emissions that are incompatible with their own net-zero targets and sectoral decarbonisation pathways.

Julia Hovenier, BankTrack’s Banks and Steel Campaign Lead said: “POSCO has demonstrated it's not serious about climate action, and by continuing to unconditionally finance them, so have its bankers. Every dollar banks give to POSCO is a dollar towards an unliveable future. Drawing a red line against POSCO’s relines is the bare minimum for banks to demonstrate that they're serious about their climate commitments.”

Yeongmin Kweon, SFOC’s researcher said: “POSCO’s decision to extend the life of its blast furnaces locks in additional carbon emissions for decades, moving us further away from internationally agreed climate targets. Financial institutions cannot ignore their role in enabling this through capital support, and they must take responsibility by aligning their investments with global climate commitments.”

The letter details the environmental, social, legal, and financial risks of supporting these projects and calls on banks to withhold all current and future support for POSCO’s blast furnace investments. The projects would lock in at least 137 million tonnes of CO2 emissions over 15 years - undermining POSCO’s own climate targets and exposing it to costly carbon tariffs like the EU’s CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism). The furnaces are also major polluters, linked to hundreds of premature deaths annually and billions in public health costs, with local communities raising concerns over transparency and harm. From a legal perspective, POSCO is facing climate litigation and regulatory action for greenwashing. Lastly, POSCO’s stock has plunged 57%, it has been excluded by 27 financial institutions, and its ESG ratings are deteriorating - all signalling growing market concern over the company’s continued investment in outdated, high-carbon technology.

This letter follows a similar letter sent in November 2023, underscoring mounting pressure on the industry to transition away from fossil fuels.

Notes for editors

The letter was sent to ANZ, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Crédit Agricole, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, ING Group, JPMorgan Chase, KB Financial Group, Korea Investment Holdings, Mirae Asset Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial, NongHyup Financial Group, Standard Chartered, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

The full letter is available here.

For supporting references, see the letter.