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2022-08-15 00:00:00
You’ve probably never heard about TNFD: But it threatens to be the new frontier in corporate greenwashing
2022-07-26 00:00:00
How China’s new complaints procedures can prevent ‘green’ ESG investments from harming local communities
2022-07-19 00:00:00
Jackdaw shows once again Shell is failing on climate. So why are its bankers failing to act?
2022-07-15 00:00:00
Can we stop the funding of more plastics?
2022-05-20 15:14:47
Seven financiers abandon TotalEnergies' EACOP pipeline in a week
2021-12-16 13:33:02
Cambo oil field "paused" following pressure on Shell & banks
2021-12-16 13:04:42
Equator Principles improve transparency after BankTrack shows the way
2021-11-02 11:03:26
ANZ launches human rights grievance mechanism in a first for the global banking sector
Connect
2022-07-05 00:00:00
Assessment of East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and Associated Facilities’ Compliance with Equator Principles and IFC Performance Standards
2022-06-28 00:00:00
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP): Finance Risk Update No. 3
2022-04-05 00:00:00
The BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark Asia
2022-03-30 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Chaos 2022
2022-03-08 00:00:00
BankTrack Annual Report 2021
2022-03-03 00:00:00
Locked out of a Just Transition: fossil fuel financing in Africa
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You’ve probably never heard about TNFD: But it threatens to be the new frontier in corporate greenwashing

2022-08-15 | Shona Hawkes
This blog was initially posted on the Global Forest Coalition website. Anyone who cares about protecting nature, biodiversity, and those who defend it ultimately has a stake in stopping the trillions of dollars that are driving nature destruction and human rights abuses. However, too often, it is assumed that rights holders on the frontlines of the nature crisis do not deserve an equal seat at the table in initiatives that claim to fix the problem. Below we answer five key questions about the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and outline why you should be concerned. Why is TNFD important?  TNFD is a voluntary initiative but it will likely serve as a blueprint from which governments will draw in writing future business regulations. Like has happened with its sister initiative on climate, the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. If TNFD enables greenwashing, this will detract from the real solutions needed to curb the trillions of dollars in financing that are driving the nature and biodiversity crisis and the human rights abuses that often underpin it.  What is the TNFD?  Launched in 2021, TNFD is headed by a taskforce of 34 senior staff from global companies. The TNFD is led by business but endorsed by various actors on the international stage. TNFD is developing a framework that outlines what information a company or financial institution should self-report regarding how its relationship with nature and biodiversity has, or will,…

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You’ve probably never heard about TNFD: But it threatens to be the new frontier in corporate greenwashing

2022-08-15 | Shona Hawkes
This blog was initially posted on the Global Forest Coalition website. Anyone who cares about protecting nature, biodiversity, and those who defend it ultimately has a stake in stopping the trillions of dollars that are driving nature destruction and human rights abuses. However, too often, it is assumed that rights holders on the frontlines of the nature crisis do not deserve an equal seat at the table in initiatives that claim to fix the problem. Below we answer five key questions about the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and outline why you should be concerned. Why is TNFD important?  TNFD is a voluntary initiative but it will likely serve as a blueprint from which governments will draw in writing future business regulations. Like has happened with its sister initiative on climate, the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. If TNFD enables greenwashing, this will detract from the real solutions needed to curb the trillions of dollars in financing that are driving the nature and biodiversity crisis and the human rights abuses that often underpin it.  What is the TNFD?  Launched in 2021, TNFD is headed by a taskforce of 34 senior staff from global companies. The TNFD is led by business but endorsed by various actors on the international stage. TNFD is developing a framework that outlines what information a company or financial institution should self-report regarding how its relationship with nature and biodiversity has, or will,…
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Civil society groups say UN-backed TNFD proposal risks opening a new frontier for corporate greenwashing on nature

2022-08-03 | BankTrack, Amazon Watch, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Forest & Finance Coalition, Global Forest Coalition, Global Witness, Jubilee Australia Research Centre, Profundo, Rainforest Action Network, TuK Indonesia, WECAN
Today, thirteen civil society organizations are sounding the alarm about the corporate greenwashing on nature that the work of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) might facilitate. The TNFD is a voluntary initiative led by business but endorsed by various actors on the international stage. Like its sister initiative, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, TNFD will likely serve as a blueprint from which government regulators will draw, as public concern continues to build about the nature and biodiversity crisis and the trillions of dollars in financing that drive it. In May 2022, a Joint NGO Letter to the TNFD by 28 NGOs and networks outlined major concerns with its first draft. “We were always skeptical that a process so wholly controlled by business interests would deliver – but combing through its latest draft we are shocked by just how bad it remains.” said Shona Hawkes, an adviser with Rainforest Action Network. Launched in 2021, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures is headed by 34 senior staff from global companies. TNFD is developing a framework that outlines what information a company or financial institution should self-report regarding how its relationship with nature has, or will, impact its business. This may include how it is preparing for changes in the short, medium, or long term. It emerges at a point in time when the global community is increasingly aware of the trillions of dollars that…
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How China’s new complaints procedures can prevent ‘green’ ESG investments from harming local communities

Guidelines now require Chinese banks and insurers to set up grievance mechanisms, which will allow affected communities to speak up – and investors to better address their risks
2022-07-26 | Accountability Counsel, Margaux Day, Yagian (Zelda) Liang
A version of this article was previously published on the 16th June, 2022 in the South China Morning Post.  On 1 June, the government of China issued Green Finance Guidelines that expand and detail requirements for better implementation of green finance policies by Chinese financial institutions. Notably, Chinese banks and insurers are asked, for the first time, to establish grievance mechanisms as a tool for managing environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk of their clients. This comes amid a global backlash against ESG investors, who are under fire for making hollow commitments amid increased regulatory and public pressure. Increasingly, investors are adopting grievance mechanisms to help them understand the impact and prevent harm, as a response to the pressure to show ESG integrity, and because certain industry standards now require them. These new Chinese Green Finance Guidelines, promulgated by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), are the latest to require grievance mechanisms that offer a channel through which communities can be heard on the one hand, and investors can address risks of their investments effectively and efficiently on the other.   Most international development finance institutions have these grievance mechanisms; 113 financial institutions receiving money from the Green Climate Fund are required to have them, and multiple impact management and measurement standards herald the importance of such mechanisms. Most recently, ANZ became the first commercial…
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BankTrack’s Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022 to be published in November

52 large global banks received draft assessment of their human rights policies
2022-07-21 | The Hague, Netherlands | Giulia Barbos – BankTrack
BankTrack’s Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022 is on track to be published in November 2022, with the first draft analysis of the human rights policies of 52 of the largest commercial banks around the world just concluded. BankTrack has now shared the draft scores with all banks covered in the benchmark, offering them the opportunity to provide feedback on their scores in the coming weeks. The 2022 benchmark will be the fourth time BankTrack has assessed global banks on their alignment with the United Nations’ human rights rules for business, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). It also follows the publication of regional human rights benchmarks for banks headquartered in Africa and Asia, published in 2021 and 2022 respectively. The UNGPs were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in June 2011 and provide the global authoritative standard on the human rights responsibilities of business. Last year, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the UNGPs, the UN published two reports, the first taking stock of the first decade, and the second setting out a roadmap for the next decade of business and human rights. The stocktaking report noted that “movement is slow among financial sector actors”, and that “while there are signs of some progress among some actors, others are hardly moving.” BankTrack’s last Global Human Rights Benchmark, published in 2019, was cited as one of the studies evidencing this slow progress. In setting out its roadmap for…
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Jackdaw shows once again Shell is failing on climate. So why are its bankers failing to act?

2022-07-19 | The Hague, The Netherlands | Sumeyra Arslan – BankTrack
On 1st June, the Jackdaw gas field was approved for development by the UK government. Two days later, BankTrack, together with 350.org, Uplift and Bank on our Future, sent a letter to 25 commercial banks with a financial or advisory relationship with Shell, Jackdaw's owner. The letter called on the 25 banks to urgently act by refusing to finance the newly approved Jackdaw gas field project, to engage with Shell urging it to stop the project and to end all finance for Shell if the company decides to proceed with the Jackdaw project. In total, 11 out of 25 banks responded substantially to our letter, while others promised to return to it. Jackdaw gas field Jackdaw is one of the ten biggest remaining gas fields in the North Sea. It is estimated to contain 58 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).(1) It is a high-pressure, high temperature (HPHT) gas condensate field with high CO2 content, making it an especially polluting area to develop.  After the UK regulator rejected Shell's initial proposal, the company proposed to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant at St. Fergus in Aberdeenshire to capture the emissions from the project. However, the CCS project's future is very unclear, with the government having put the project on the back burner. CCS is widely viewed by civil society groups, including BankTrack, as a "false solution" - an unproven and costly life-support that distracts from the task of phasing out fossil fuels and stopping new developments. In addition, Shell's plans do not…
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Can we stop the funding of more plastics?

2022-07-15 | Manon Stravens - Profundo
Despite the climate and biodiversity plans of financial institutions and companies, the role of plastics is consistently neglected in their policies and practices. Understanding the financing of the plastics boom is key to turning the tide in what can be considered one of the earth’s biggest threats. This is a Profundo Expert View by Manon Stravens, republished from the original here. The visible impacts of plastics and plastic waste - entangled turtles and seabirds in pieces of plastic, floating islands of plastic waste in the oceans - are only the tip of the iceberg, as plastics are a silent killer already from the very beginning of their lifecycle. This starts with the exploration of oil and gas in remote and vulnerable areas, as over 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels. The highly energy-intensive refining process is harmful to the populations living close to petrochemical plants. Not to mention the relatively underreported but alarmingly rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions from all stages of the plastic lifecycle. Less than 10% of plastic waste is recycled. Most of the plastics thrown away - more than 130 million tons in 2019 - are single-use plastics, ending up in our oceans, on smoky waste mountains, and in our bodies, as recent studies have detected microscopic microplastics in babies and human blood. Expanding plastics industry Despite these widely reported visible and invisible plastic pieces permeating our planet, economy, and daily lives, we haven’t yet noted any policy or practice that…
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New Report: Barclays - Banking on Apartheid

2022-07-14 | Campaign Against Arms Trade, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, War on Want
Militarised violence against the Palestinian people is a central feature of Israel’s occupation and apartheid regime – including the illegal Apartheid Wall, demolitions of Palestinian homes, brutal armed crackdowns on Palestinians protestors, and indiscriminate bombing campaigns of the Gaza Strip. Financial institutions in the UK provide investment, loans, and other financial services to companies supplying Israel with weapons and military technology used to oppress the Palestinian civilian population. We’ve uncovered that Barclays Bank, with high street locations across the UK, holds over £1 billion GBP in shares of 9 companies whose weapons, components, and military technology have been used in Israel’s armed violence against Palestinians. In addition, Barclays provides over £3 billion GBP in loans and underwriting to these companies. Read the full report here. For example, Barclays holds shares in Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer which provides 85% of the drones used by the Israeli military. Its subsidiaries provide 80% of equipment to Israel’s land forces. Barclays also holds shares in General Dynamics, which produces gun systems that arm Israel’s F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, utilised in Israel’s repeated aerial bombardments of the besieged Gaza Strip. By providing investment and financial services to these arms companies, Barclays facilitates the provision of weapons and technology for Israel’s militarised repression of Palestinians,…
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