Banks| Dodgy Deals| Campaigns
About us| Blog| Publications| Successes| Contact us| Donate
About BankTrack
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Join our Active Allies list
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
History
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2021-02-24 00:00:00
Protect the climate but finance Total?
2021-02-16 00:00:00
Oil and gas financiers are staring down the barrel at $1 trillion in losses: time to rein in support for new pipelines
2021-02-11 00:00:00
Beefing up risk: the exposure of JBS’ financiers to financial, regulatory and reputational risks
2021-01-25 00:00:00
Why should banks support EU mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence?
2020-09-24 12:53:20
Oscislowo open-pit coal mine cancelled
2020-09-08 13:07:41
Strengthened OECD guidance on responsible banking
2020-02-25 10:35:27
JPMorgan Chase Coal and Arctic Policy a step forward but fails to match its climate responsibility as the world’s #1 Fossil Bank
2020-02-18 17:27:23
Civil society groups welcome Royal Bank of Scotland preparing to exit fossil fuels
Connect
2021-02-01 00:00:00
Banking on Thin Ice
2020-11-30 00:00:00
Soft Commitments, Hard Lessons: an analysis of the Soft Commodities Compact
2020-11-24 00:00:00
"Trust Us, We're Equator Banks": Part II
2020-11-18 00:00:00
Crude Risk: Risks to banks and investors from the East African Crude Oil Pipeline
2020-09-16 00:00:00
Principles for Paris-Aligned Financial Institutions: Climate Impact, Fossil Fuels and Deforestation
2020-08-17 00:00:00
"Trust Us, We're Equator Banks": Part I
See all publications
Browse
Home
Banks
Dodgy Deals
Map
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook page
Twitter channel
Banking on Thin Ice
New report finds ongoing finance for coal, oil and gas companies, with little commitments to phase-out from fossil fuels
Stop Standard Chartered financing coal and other fossil fuels
Support the fight against the Line 3 Pipeline
Construction has started on the final stretch of the Line 3 Replacement Project, but Indigenous and environmental groups are still fighting to stop the pipeline. Find out how you can support their fight.…

LATEST NEWS

blog
external news
our news

Groundbreaking research reveals the financiers of the coal industry

Today, Urgewald & partners published an analysis of the financiers & investors behind the entire coal industry for the 1st time. One of the shocking results was that banks provide more money to coal than in 2016.
2021-02-25 | urgewald, Reclaim Finance
- US investors hold 58% of institutional investments in the coal industry - Commercial banks providing more money to the coal industry than in 2016 - Japanese banks are top lenders, Chinese banks top underwriters Today, Urgewald, Reclaim Finance, Rainforest Action Network, 350.org Japan and 25 further NGO partners published groundbreaking research on the financiers and investors behind the global coal industry. “This is the first time anyone has attempted to analyze commercial banks’ and institutional investors’ exposure to the entire coal industry. In past years, the scope of our financial research was limited to around 200 coal plant developers. Our new research, however, analyzes financial flows to all 934 companies on the Global Coal Exit List (GCEL),” says Katrin Ganswindt, head of financial research at Urgewald. Top Institutional Investors in the Coal Industry In January 2021, 4,488 institutional investors held investments totaling USD 1.03 trillion in companies operating along the thermal coal value chain. Among the investors covered by the NGOs’ research are pension funds, mutual funds, asset managers, insurance companies, hedge funds, commercial banks, sovereign wealth funds and other types of institutional investors.  The world’s largest institutional investor in the coal industry is the US mutual fund company Vanguard with holdings of almost USD 86 billion. It is closely followed by BlackRock, which holds investments of over USD 84 billion in the coal industry. Together, these…

blog
external news
our news

Groundbreaking research reveals the financiers of the coal industry

Today, Urgewald & partners published an analysis of the financiers & investors behind the entire coal industry for the 1st time. One of the shocking results was that banks provide more money to coal than in 2016.
2021-02-25 | urgewald, Reclaim Finance
- US investors hold 58% of institutional investments in the coal industry - Commercial banks providing more money to the coal industry than in 2016 - Japanese banks are top lenders, Chinese banks top underwriters Today, Urgewald, Reclaim Finance, Rainforest Action Network, 350.org Japan and 25 further NGO partners published groundbreaking research on the financiers and investors behind the global coal industry. “This is the first time anyone has attempted to analyze commercial banks’ and institutional investors’ exposure to the entire coal industry. In past years, the scope of our financial research was limited to around 200 coal plant developers. Our new research, however, analyzes financial flows to all 934 companies on the Global Coal Exit List (GCEL),” says Katrin Ganswindt, head of financial research at Urgewald. Top Institutional Investors in the Coal Industry In January 2021, 4,488 institutional investors held investments totaling USD 1.03 trillion in companies operating along the thermal coal value chain. Among the investors covered by the NGOs’ research are pension funds, mutual funds, asset managers, insurance companies, hedge funds, commercial banks, sovereign wealth funds and other types of institutional investors.  The world’s largest institutional investor in the coal industry is the US mutual fund company Vanguard with holdings of almost USD 86 billion. It is closely followed by BlackRock, which holds investments of over USD 84 billion in the coal industry. Together, these…
blog
external news
our news

Cross-Regional Letter to European Commission on the EU Human Rights Due Diligence Legislation

2021-02-25 | Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
In May 2020, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders announced that the European Commission will embark on proposing legislation on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence in 2021, a necessary step for corporate governance and accountability. In light of this, on 18 February 2021, 79 organisations across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe have come together and sent a letter to the European Commission, demanding that the proposed  legislation: Ensures corporate respect for human rights and international humanitarian law in conflict-affected areas; Applies to all companies in the European Union (EU), including financial institutions, their operations and relationships abroad; Ensures the protection of Indigenous peoples and the right to self-determination; Adopts a gender-sensitive approach; and, Is compatible with already-existing international norms and relevant developments directed at enhancing corporate accountability, particularly those at the United Nations. The organisations underscore that such legislation is necessary to close the severe gap between corporate-related violations against human rights and the environment and the lack of accountability, especially in conflict-affected and high-risk areas. The letter urges the European Commission to consider relevant UN precedents such as the UN database of businesses involved in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory; the Panel of Experts report to the UN Security Council regarding the illegal exploitation of natural resources…
blog
external news
our news

Protect the climate but finance Total?

2021-02-24 | Greenpeace France, Reclaim Finance
It’s a provocative question: can you protect the climate while financing Total? Many will answer in the negative. And yet, while a growing number of French financial actors are committed to achieving carbon neutrality (net-zero) and aligning their activities with the 1.5°C target, none or virtually none has excluded the company from its support. Provocation or simply hypocrisy? This is what a new report published by Reclaim Finance and Greenpeace France entitled “Pipeline of Pollution: Total responsible, Finance complicit?” aims to find out. Given Total’s responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions and climate change at the international level, the way financial players adapt their relationship with Total SE is a good indicator of the sincerity of their climate commitments and the challenges involved in meeting them. Step 1: Evaluating Total on climate The report begins with an overview of Total’s climate commitments. The group is committed to investing massively in renewable energies. There is cause for concern about the role of false solutions such as biomass, but the significant amounts invested there support Total’s communication efforts to appear as a multi-energy company. With this in mind, Total has also announced that it will submit a change of name to TotalEnergies to the vote of its shareholders at the next annual general meeting. But you have to compare them to other figures and that’s where the problem lies: in 2020, Total produced 447 units of fossil fuels…
blog
external news
our news

Oil and gas financiers are staring down the barrel at $1 trillion in losses: time to rein in support for new pipelines

2021-02-16 | Greig Aitken - Global Energy Monitor
A blog by Greig Aitken, Finance researcher, Global Energy Monitor After four years of climate change denialism at the White House, US President Joe Biden has quickly moved to reinstall reality, and then some. If day one of the new administration duly delivered the widely trailed re-entry of America into the Paris Climate Agreement and the cancellation of the permit for the $9 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline, a week later on January 27 Biden’s 7,500+ word executive order on climate policy landed – with a notable emphasis on ending US support and financing for fossil fuels overseas.   That same day the US’s new climate envoy, former Secretary of State John Kerry, wasted no time in singling out gas as a top priority for global action, telling a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum: “If we build out huge infrastructure for gas now and continue to use it as the bridge fuel … we’re gonna be stuck with stranded assets in 10 or 20 or 30 years.” Kerry’s flagging of the ‘bridge fuel’ myth to political and business leaders is telling. It’s the gas industry’s big climate lie that methane, more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, has a role to play in the clean energy transition. And it’s the dangerous myth, according to research published this month, behind why over 82% of all pipelines currently in development the world over are designed to carry gas. Global Energy Monitor (GEM) has identified a planned…
blog
external news
our news

BNP Paribas gives soy-related deforestation a five-year free pass

2021-02-15 | Canopée Forêts Vivantes, Mighty Earth, Reclaim Finance, SumOfUs
Press release – Reclaim Finance, Canopée Forêts Vivantes, Mighty Earth and SumofUs. BNP Paribas today announced measures to stop financing deforestation linked to soy and cattle in Brazil by 2025 (1). Given the high stakes, BNP’s initiative is welcomed. But the goals set are far too late while BNP Paribas fails to explain how it will achieve the targets; Reclaim Finance, Canopée Forêts Vivantes, SumOfUs, and Mighty Earth call on BNP Paribas to no longer spare giants like Cargill – one of the soy traders most linked to deforestation – even if it means ceasing all financial support to the agribusiness; BNP Paribas is Cargill’s largest financier, with $4 billion in funding provided between 2016 and 2019. Soy and beef are two of the largest drivers of deforestation in the world, particularly in the biodiverse-rich regions of Cerrado and the Amazon in Brazil. BNP commits to immediately drop companies that continue clearing forests or converting land in the Amazon. However, apart from cattle mega-farms, a few companies will be given that a moratorium banning deforestation linked to soy after 2008 already exists and has been very effective in halting soy-driven deforestation in the Amazon. Thus, the ambition of BNP Paribas measures on soy must be judged based on the measures to protect the Cerrado. BNP Paribas commits to provide “financial products or services only to companies with strategies to achieve zero deforestation in their production and supply chains by 2025…
blog
external news
our news

Investors should reconsider financing Dutch RWE’s biomass and coal plants because of climate impacts, say environmental groups

2021-02-15 | Amsterdam | Environmental Paper Network
The environmental and climate NGO the Environmental Paper Network (1) and Dutch campaigners have asked international financiers of RWE to reconsider their investment in the energy company’s Dutch coal and biomass-burning power plants, in light of the serious impacts on the climate, people and on forests. The letter was sent shortly after RWE launched a lawsuit for compensation against the Dutch Government, claiming that the country’s mandatory coal phaseout by 2030 contravenes the Energy Charter Treaty. According to the news outlet Politico (2), RWE justified the legal action by claiming that “the Netherlands had failed to offer adequate time or money for the [Eemshaven] plant built-in 2015 to be converted to burn biomass instead of coal.” Karen Vermeer, coordinator of the finance working group of EPN International, said: “RWE’s financiers and investors must take a hard look at the company’s impacts on the climate and on biodiversity, impacts which are the direct result of its biomass and coal power generation. The fact that RWE is now suing the Netherlands for compensation for phasing out coal burning and biomass subsidies with several years notice, must surely be the final straw for any investors claiming to be concerned about the climate and biodiversity crises.” RWE is the largest burner of coal as well as wood pellets in the Netherlands, (3) having been awarded a total of EUR 2.68 billion in renewable energy subsidies for burning wood in the Amer and…
blog
external news
our news

Beefing up risk: the exposure of JBS’ financiers to financial, regulatory and reputational risks

2021-02-11 | Marília Monteiro - BankTrack, Merel van der Mark - Rainforest Action Network
In Brazil, the world's leading cause of deforestation, the beef industry, is thriving. Financial backing from major global banks - and the government itself - for irresponsible beef companies like JBS is contributing to the sector’s increasing impacts. JBS S.A. is the largest meat processor in the world. The  Brazilian company focuses on the production of beef, pork, and poultry products, and operates in 15 countries. Although the company started trading in 1953, it was only in the late 2000s that it emerged as a global giant. This is in large part due to the support of the Brazilian government. The Federal investment bank BNDES, for example, is now JBS’ second largest shareholder. JBS, together with Marfrig and Minerva, forms part of a triad of meat companies that, combined, account for 42% of the slaughter capacity in the Amazon and 64% of total Brazilian beef exports. Largest driver of deforestation Despite initial improvements resulting from JBS’ pledges to not purchase cattle from ranches linked to illegal deforestation (notably the 2009 Greenpeace Cattle Agreement and the Conduct Adjustment Agreement or “TAC”), over the last five years, the devastation of the Amazon has escalated considerably and JBS remains seriously exposed to the risks associated with deforestation. JBS promised to monitor its indirect suppliers by 2011 in the deal signed with Greenpeace, but has not met this promise to date. The big meatpackers have been repeatedly involved in scandals involving deforestation,…
More news...
Get BankTrack updates delivered to your inbox
Latest Tweets
RBC is the next Canadian bank to take steps on climate, committing to net-zero emissions for its loan book by 2050… https://t.co/QEOv7zjjU9
2021-02-25
A first step by @CIBC as it joins @pcafglobal. Transparent carbon accounting is important, as is the statement that… https://t.co/CeDjnvPMNM
2021-02-25
Notice Board
Update Alerts
On 2021-01-08 11:03:32 we updated the Wells Fargo bank page.
On 2021-01-07 17:28:29 we updated the Coastal GasLink pipeline project page.
On 2021-01-07 16:12:36 we updated the UniCredit bank page.
External News
HSBC, Barclays challenged over bond linked to Vietnamese coal project
2021-02-24 00:00:00
|
Reuters
Fridays for Future: Standard Chartered Must Stop 'Fueling the Climate Crisis'
2021-02-18 00:00:00
|
Vice UK
SASB, CDP, Ceres, 2ii and ShareAction vie to be part of oversight body for Principles of Responsible Banking
2021-02-10 00:00:00
|
Responsible Investor
Fighting climate change by shutting down the money pipeline
2021-02-04 00:00:00
|
Bloomberg News green
Browse
Home
Banks
Dodgy Deals
Map
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook page
Twitter channel
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Tel: +31 24 324 9220
Contact@banktrack.org
©2016 BankTrack                Webdesign by BankTrack and EASYmind
BankTrack is a registered charity in the Netherlands (ANBI) - RSIN 813874658
Find our privacy policy here

Stay up to date

Sign up now for all BankTrack's news


Make a comment

Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted