>BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole and the Banque Populaire et Caisse d’Epargne group are accused of contributing to the razing of 9,500 square metres of vegetation cleared to create land for soy, palm oil and beef farming.
>A report published Monday by investigative news sites Disclose and Reporter Brasil – in partnership with the NGOs Sherpa, Harvest and the Centre for Climate Crime Analysis – found the banks had invested more than 743 million euros in ventures linked to deforestation between 2013 and 2022.
>As part of its investigation, the coalition analysed thousands of financial transactions – corporate loans, bonds, equity investments and share issues – tracked by the Forest and Finance platform, which assesses the finance received by hundreds of companies involved in the beef, soy, palm oil, pulp, paper, rubber and timber supply chains.
>
>Since February 2017, a corporate “duty of vigilance” law opens French businesses up to potential legal action for human rights violations and environmental damage linked to their supply chains.
>In February 2021, BNP pledged to stop investing in firms contributing to clearing tropical forest for beef or soybean production in the Amazon and Cerrado, and to only fund companies with zero deforestation strategies by 2025.
>The report alleges this promise was not met.
>BNP Paribas told RFI it had made strict commitments to protect the environment and it would take time for those practices to be implemented on the ground.
1 comment
Amanda Morrow for *RFI*, 30 November 2022.
Excerpt:
>BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole and the Banque Populaire et Caisse d’Epargne group are accused of contributing to the razing of 9,500 square metres of vegetation cleared to create land for soy, palm oil and beef farming.
>A report published Monday by investigative news sites Disclose and Reporter Brasil – in partnership with the NGOs Sherpa, Harvest and the Centre for Climate Crime Analysis – found the banks had invested more than 743 million euros in ventures linked to deforestation between 2013 and 2022.
>As part of its investigation, the coalition analysed thousands of financial transactions – corporate loans, bonds, equity investments and share issues – tracked by the Forest and Finance platform, which assesses the finance received by hundreds of companies involved in the beef, soy, palm oil, pulp, paper, rubber and timber supply chains.
>
>Since February 2017, a corporate “duty of vigilance” law opens French businesses up to potential legal action for human rights violations and environmental damage linked to their supply chains.
>In February 2021, BNP pledged to stop investing in firms contributing to clearing tropical forest for beef or soybean production in the Amazon and Cerrado, and to only fund companies with zero deforestation strategies by 2025.
>The report alleges this promise was not met.
>BNP Paribas told RFI it had made strict commitments to protect the environment and it would take time for those practices to be implemented on the ground.
Further reading:
*Les banques françaises financent massivement la déforestation de l’Amazonie*, 28 November 2022, https://disclose.ngo/fr/article/les-banques-francaises-financent-massivement-la-deforestation-de-lamazonie