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By: BankTrack

Contact:

nature@banktrack.org

 


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Wulingyuan, UNESCO's World Heritage Site in China. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Loss of biodiversity is a planetary emergency. A report on the Economics of Biodiversity states that many ecosystems have been degraded beyond repair or are at imminent risk of reaching ‘tipping points’, which could have catastrophic consequences such as species extinction, forest-climate feedbacks in boreal regions and epidemics. Maintaining ecosystem balance and biodiversity is vital in climate regulation, carbon capture and the prevention of newly emerging diseases. Vast amounts of biodiverse land serve as home to many Indigenous peoples and traditional communities. In order to safeguard biodiversity, banks must act urgently and decisively to address the impacts linked to their financing that contributes to biodiversity loss.

Tropical and subtropical forests are ecosystems that harbour the greatest biological diversity globally and store about 70% of the carbon in forests worldwide. Yet they have been largely threatened by changes of land use caused by large-scale commercial agriculture - the main cause of deforestation (40%) - local subsistence agriculture (33%), infrastructure (10%), urban expansion (10%), and mining (7%). The planet’s largest rainforest, the Amazon, is being ravaged by catastrophic fires due to advancing monoculture plantations, mining, and illegal logging. Lake Baikal, the world’s largest and deepest freshwater lake, is suffering with the intense impacts of mining and water infrastructure. Half of Australia's Great Barrier Reef is now dead due to coal and gas projects and Ramsar Wetlands in Uganda are being threatened by construction of the massive EACOP pipeline.

Restoring and protecting these ecosystems is one of the most effective strategies for tackling climate change. Rainforests like the Amazon act as carbon sinks and are a vital regulator of climate change by removing one quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by humans. Coral reefs harbour the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem globally and provide a wide variety of ecosystem services such as protection from flooding and sustaining the fishing industry. Coral reefs are estimated to directly support over 500 million people worldwide, through providing daily subsistence food. A 2015 study by the WWF projects that the climate-related loss of reef ecosystem services will cost at least US$ 500 billion per year by 2100. Healthy ecosystems will be more resilient to climate change and so more able to maintain the supply of ecosystem services on which our prosperity and wellbeing depend. 

The World Economic Forum ranks biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as one of the top five threats humanity faces in the next 10 years. A broad range of human rights depend on thriving biodiversity and healthy habitats and ecosystems. These include not only the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, but also the right to food, clean air and water, health, culture and the right to life. Conversely, biodiversity and habitat loss often result in violations of these rights. Biodiversity loss disproportionately harms those who are already subjected to the worst consequences of climate change and are vulnerable to exploitation, such as Indigenous peoples and traditional communities, women and girls, children and youth and the poor. In 2020 alone, 277 land and environmental activists were murdered for defending their land and the planet. The destruction of nature continues to worsen the situation for frontline communities and defenders of the earth. 

Deforestation and land use change expose humans to new microbes. Microbial diversity is a large part of the diversity that is being lost and these microbes - bacteria, viruses and fungi, among others - are essential for maintaining healthy ecosystems. Because humans are part of these ecosystems, our health also suffers when they vanish, or when barriers reduce our exposure to them. As the loss of biodiversity continues, we are witnessing an increasing spillover of pathogens from wild animal species to humans, exposing our vulnerability to Zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19.

Role of banks 

According to an OECD report, the global financial flows that are potentially harmful to biodiversity are estimated at US$ 500 billion per year, which is almost six times more than the total spending for biodiversity conservation. Economic activities require use of land and water and in most cases they cause degradation of nature, emissions of greenhouse gases and environmental pollution. Financial institutions play a key role in this field by financing these economic activities. A ShareAction report found that of 75 of the world’s largest asset managers 86% made no reference to ecosystem protection, natural capital or biodiversity in their policies.

What banks must do

The overall aim of the Banks and Nature campaign is for banks to protect nature and end bank finance for nature destruction. In order to achieve this, we demand from banks that they: 

  1. Explicitly acknowledge the urgency and severity of the biodiversity crisis and its interrelatedness to the climate crisis, and acknowledge their responsibility to ensure that the activities they finance do not lead to further ecosystem destruction and extinction.

  2. Actively support and formally commit to align their business with the objectives and targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

  3. Adopt methodologies to measure and report the impact of investments and financing activities on biodiversity, setting concrete and time-bound targets to reduce this impact.

  4. Strengthen sector finance policies for high impact industries to ensure they adequately safeguard biodiversity, including proper due diligence impact assessments for each sector, and respect the rights of Indigenous peoples, local communities, and human and environmental defenders as custodians of nature.

  5. Exclude finance for specific very high impact business activities and adopt No-Go policies which prohibit any direct or indirect financing related to unsustainable, extractive, industrial, environmentally, and/or socially harmful activities in or which may potentially impact high level biodiverse areas.

  6. Not provide finance to carbon and biodiversity offset projects based on the concept of “no net loss”.


Target Dodgy Deals

target

East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP)

Uganda | Project

Related Dodgy Deals

Projects

target

East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Uganda

Pipeline Transportation of Crude Oil
active

Rampal coal power plant Bangladesh

Coal Electric Power Generation
active

Sombwe Dam Congo, the Democratic Republic of the

Hydroelectric Power Generation
There are no projects active for Banks and biodiversity now.
on record

Amasra coal mine and power plant Turkey

Coal Electric Power Generation | Coal Mining
on record

Batang Toru Dam Indonesia

Hydroelectric Power Generation
on record

Gibe III dam Ethiopia

Hydroelectric Power Generation
on record

Great Barrier Reef Coal & Gas Exports Australia

Coal Mining | Fossil Fuels Bulk Stations and Terminals | Oil and Gas Extraction
on record

Jaitapur nuclear power plant India

Nuclear Electric Power Generation
on record

Krabi coal power plant Thailand

Coal Electric Power Generation
on record

Lamu coal power plant Kenya

Coal Electric Power Generation
on record

Madagascar tar sands Madagascar

Oil and Gas Extraction
on record

Phulbari coal mine Bangladesh

Coal Mining

News

| |
Type:
Year:
blog
external news
our news

Fool’s Paradise: How Biodiversity Offsets Don’t Stop Biodiversity Loss

2021-10-28 | Friends of the Earth US
blog
external news
our news

Fool’s Paradise: How Biodiversity Offsets Don’t Stop Biodiversity Loss

2021-10-26 | Friends of the Earth US
blog
external news
our news

Banks and biodiversity: are banks moving towards Kunming?

As China hosts the first part of the UN Biodiversity Conference, banks are called upon to support its goals
2021-10-14 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
blog
external news
our news

New research puts big banks’ sustainability claims in doubt

While 20 of Europe’s 25 largest banks have pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, none have matched these long-term ambitions with comprehensive plans to avert climate change and biodiversity loss
2021-09-06 | London | ShareAction
blog
external news
our news

USD 4.2tn investors call on leading banks to strengthen climate ambitions before COP26

Investors including Fidelity International and M&G Investments call on banks to demonstrate their climate credentials by committing to phase out coal finance before COP26
2021-07-07 | London | ShareAction
blog
external news
our news

Banks called upon to take action to protect biodiversity ahead of UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming

Civil society organizations urge banks to adopt stringent “No Go” policy for biodiversity rich areas
2021-05-26 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
blog
external news
our news

BMO to Chair Global Cross-Sector Biodiversity Initiative

2021-04-28 | Yahoo Finance
blog
external news
our news

Biodiversity COP launches 'finance engagement programme'

2021-03-08 | Environmental Finance
blog
external news
our news

The Partnership for Biodiversity Accounting Financials (PBAF) welcomes fifteen new financial institutions

2021-03-04 | Partnership for Biodiversity Accounting Financials (PBAF)
blog
external news
our news

The banking industry’s role in the biodiversity crisis

2021-02-22 | Varsity
blog
external news
our news

More than 50 countries commit to protection of 30% of Earth's land and oceans

Coalition says promise is key to preventing mass extinctions and ensuring clean air and water
2021-01-26 | The Guardian
blog
external news
our news

Six steps for financial institutions to set biodiversity targets

2021-01-19 | Natural Capital Finance Alliance
blog
external news
our news

Bankrolling Extinction: The top 10 banks financing biodiversity loss

Report names HSBC, Bank of America, Mitsubishi Financial & others
2020-10-28 | portfolio.earth
blog
external news
our news

Pandemics result from destruction of nature, say UN and WHO

2020-06-19 | The Guardian

Documents

Type:
Year:
our publications
2022-01-20 00:00:00

Signez l’appel mondial : Stop au financement bancaire des énergies fossiles

Traduction : L'appel mondial
2022-01-20 00:00:00 | BankTrack
ngo documents
2021-10-26 00:00:00

Fool’s Paradise: How Biodiversity Offsets Don’t Stop Biodiversity Loss

2021-10-26 00:00:00 | Friends of the Earth
ngo documents
2021-08-24 00:00:00

Investing in troubled waters

The material risks of fish mortality and the use of wild-caught fish in feed for the aquaculture sector
2021-08-24 00:00:00 | Feedback, Changing Markets Foundation, CFFA, and WSRW
csr policies
2021-08-20 00:00:00

Stance on Biodiversity

2021-08-20 00:00:00 | ING
ngo documents
2021-08-09 00:00:00

Violations in the name of conservation

2021-08-09 00:00:00 | Amnesty International
ngo documents
2021-07-30 00:00:00

World Heritage Forever?

How Banks Can Protect the World’s Most Iconic Cultural and Natural Sites
2021-07-30 00:00:00 | Friends of the Earth U.S.
other documents
2021-07-01 00:00:00

Financial Sector Guide for the Convention on Biological Diversity

2021-07-01 00:00:00 | CBD, UNPFI and others
other documents
2021-06-24 00:00:00

Guidance on Biodiversity Target Setting for PRB signatories

2021-06-24 00:00:00 | UNEPFI
ngo documents
2021-04-26 00:00:00

NGO concerns over the proposed 30% target for protected areas and absence of safeguards for Indigenous Peoples and local communities

2021-04-26 00:00:00 | Survival International, Rainforest Foundation, Minority Rights Group International
csr policies
2021-04-22 00:00:00

Statement on Biodiversity

2021-04-22 00:00:00 | Credit Suisse
ngo documents
2021-04-20 00:00:00

Re-thinking nature-based solutions: seeking transformative change through culture and rights

2021-04-20 00:00:00 | Forest Peoples Programme
ngo documents
2021-04-12 00:00:00

How bioenergy harms biodiversity: the facts

2021-04-12 00:00:00 | Fern
other documents
2021-03-26 00:00:00

Finance for Biodiversity

Guide on biodiversity measurement approaches
2021-03-26 00:00:00 | Finance for Biodiversity Pledge
other documents
2021-03-26 00:00:00

INTEGRATING NATURAL CAPITAL IN RISK ASSESSMENTS:

A step-by-step guide for banks
2021-03-26 00:00:00 | NCFA
other documents
2021-03-21 00:00:00

PBAF Common Ground Paper

2021-03-21 00:00:00 | Partnership for Biodiversity Accounting Financials
ngo documents
2021-03-19 00:00:00

Corporate Greenwashing

"Net zero" and "nature-based solutions" are a deadly fraud
2021-03-19 00:00:00 | GRAIN
other documents
2021-02-05 00:00:00

The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review Abridged Version

2021-02-05 00:00:00 | UK government
other documents
2021-01-19 00:00:00

Finance Sector and Biodiversity Conservation

Best Practice Benchmarking
2021-01-19 00:00:00 | European Union Business and Biodiversity Platform
other documents
2021-01-19 00:00:00

Beyond 'Business as Usual': Biodiversity Targets and Finance

Managing biodiversity risks across business sectors
2021-01-19 00:00:00 | Natural Capital Finance Alliance
other documents
2021-01-19 00:00:00

Biodiversity Opportunities and Risks for the Financial Sector

2021-01-19 00:00:00 | The Sustainable Finance Platform
other documents
2020-06-19 00:00:00

EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030

2020-06-19 00:00:00
other documents
2020-06-19 00:00:00

Indebted to nature - exploring biodiversity risks for the Dutch financial sector

2020-06-19 00:00:00
ngo documents
2012-09-01 00:00:00

Equator Principles and the Alpha Coal Project

2012-09-01 00:00:00 | Greenpeace Australia Pacific

Links

Forests & Finance

Forests & Finance is a searchable database that reveals the finance flowing into commodities driving deforestation and land degradation in Southeast Asia, Central and West Africa, and Brazil. It also includes policy assessments and case studies. BankTrack is part of the Forests & Finance coalition.

http://forestsandfinance.org/
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