While the world's biggest banks pour billions into fossil fuels and weapons, this ethical bank refuses to fund any of it. Meet Banca Etica. Volunteers, aid workers, pacifists and environmentalists spent years raising money from thousands of people to start a bank that matched their values, and it opened its first branch in Padua, Italy, in 1999. More than 50,000 people and organizations in Italy and Spain now own it as a co-op. Each gets one vote no matter how many shares they hold, and members volunteer to check whether business loans actually help people and the planet. Its rules ban lending to weapons, fossil fuels, polluting energy, factory farming, gambling and countries that violate human rights. In 2025 it lent €1.37 billion to families, nonprofits, co-ops, organic farms, culture and environmental projects. Its loans fund renewable energy, fair trade, organic farming and groups that run property seized from the mafia. The bank reports its lending has helped 179,000 people get health care, social services and education. Opposing Israel's genocide in Gaza, Banca Etica's funds exclude Israeli government bonds, Israeli companies and firms the UN ties to settlements. It raised €221,000 for Doctors Without Borders and Palestinian aid group ACAD, and backs Palestinian small business loans. Most banks hide where your money goes. Banca Etica publishes every loan it makes to businesses and organizations, which no other Italian bank does, and caps its pay gap. It isn't perfect, but it's far more ethical than most banks. In 2025 the 65 biggest banks put $906 billion into fossil fuel companies, environmental groups found. Anti-nuclear groups found nuclear weapons makers got nearly $300 billion in financing from 2023 to 2025, led by Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. Find ethical alternatives to the biggest companies on the Conscious Spend app. - @conscious.app