Intesa Sanpaolo presents itself as the “bank of territories” in Italy. Yet in the United States it is a key financer of LNG expansion, which is devastating communities living near new gas pipelines and export terminals on the Gulf Coast.
Representatives from 11 communities in Texas and Louisiana, together with 14 international NGOs, have written to Compagnia di San Paolo and Cariplo Foundations — the bank’s most influential shareholders urging them to call on Intesa Sanpaolo to stop financing LNG companies and projects, divest from fossil gas and strengthen its Oil & Gas Policy by explicitly excluding LNG expansion. So far, they have received no reply.
This silence is particularly alarming because both foundations claim to promote social welfare, culture and sustainable development. As major shareholders, they hold a moral and fiduciary duty to ensure that the bank aligns its activities with these principles.
Instead, Intesa Sanpaolo stands among the top 20 global financiers of LNG expansion and ranks as the fifth largest European LNG funder.
In March 2024, the bank co-arranged a US$ 1.5 billion bond for Cheniere Energy. In July 2025 it took part in another US$ 1 billion bond emission, linked to the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana. In 2023 it supported Next Decade with US$ 278,75 million in a private placement bond and US$ 1.08 billion in project financing for the Rio Grande LNG terminal.
For years, Intesa Sanpaolo has financed some of the most harmful LNG developers and terminals on the US Gulf Coast — including Sabine Pass, Corpus Christi, Golden Pass, Lake Charles, Freeport LNG, and Cameron LNG.
The impacts are severe. The proliferation of LNG terminals, refineries and petrolchimical complexes across Texas and Louisiana is deepening a legacy of environmental racism and systemic injustice, exposing communities to toxic air, water contamination, and high cancer risks.
Today, more than 20 additional LNG projects are proposed in the region, along six already operating. In August 2025, a major dredging spill at Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG Terminal released tons of sludge spilled into the bayous, the typical ecosystem of the Mississippi River delta, contaminating fish, oyster, and shrimp habitats and devastating local fisheries already on the brink.
Despite all these evidences, Intesa Sanpaolo’s latest Oil & Gas Policy includes no restrictions on LNG, placing it among the weakest performers in Europe.
“For years, civil society organizations and frontline communities have attempted to engage the bank through letters, public appeals and direct dialogue – without any response,” says Susanna De Guio from ReCommon. “Now its main shareholders – two foundations that claim to support communities and the planet, are doing the same. Their silence is a clear stance against affected territories and against responsibility in the face of climate change”.
