ORCID
Jan Koleśnik: 0000-0003-2182-5645
Keywords
GHG emissions, agricultural lending, banks’ loan portfolio, EU banking groups
Abstract
This article analyses the effectiveness of the banking sector in limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in European Union agriculture and the impact of EU banking groups‘ policies on their Polish subsidiaries. The study is based on data from 2019–2025 sourced from the Eurostat database, the European Banking Authority (EBA), and capital adequacy disclosures (CQ5 and CR1-B reports). The research sample included 14 EU countries with an agricultural share in GDP of between 1% and 3.6% and 62 EU banking groups at the highest level of consolidation. A linear regression model was employed, using the change in gas emissions as the dependent variable and the change in the share of agricultural loans in the total loan portfolio as the explanatory variable. Results showed a lack of statistically significant correlation between changes in credit involvement and GHG emission levels, leading to the rejection of the research hypotheses. These findings challenge the role assigned to banks in the European Green Deal as a tool for the green transformation of agriculture.
Acknowledgments
Funding
The research received no funds.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of the article.
Declaration about the scope of AI utilization
The author did not use an AI tool in the preparation of the article.
Recommended Citation
Koleśnik, J. (2026). The effectiveness of banks’ influence on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in EU agriculture. Journal of Banking and Financial Economics, 2026(1), 21-31. https://doi.org/10.7172/2353-6845.jbfe.2026.1.2
First Page
21
Last Page
31
Page Count
13
Received Date
30.09.2025
Revised Date
18.04.2026
Accept Date
08.06.2026
Online Available Date
06.07.2026
DOI
10.7172/2353-6845.jbfe.2026.1.2
JEL Code
G21; G28; O13; Q14; Q53
Publisher
University of Warsaw
