- 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…

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…

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…

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…