Time to end the banking sector's life support for the coal industry. From concerns over air pollution and acid rain to its destructive impact on the climate, coal has been recognised as the dirtiest, most dated and most inefficient fossil fuel option. It is the most emissions intensive fossil fuel and the leading cause of climate change. Globally, coal-fired power plants are the largest source of carbon dioxide - greater than tropical deforestation or oil use for transportation.

BankTrack's Banks and Forest campaign focuses on the financiers of important initiators of deforestation, with the aim to push banks to act more responsibly regarding their forest-related investments. The long-term goal of our work is to help ensure that private sector banks no longer finance companies, projects and business activities that cause a large negative impact on forests. We focus primarily on the pulp & paper and palm oil sectors.

BankTrack's human rights campaign pushes for banks to fully meet their responsibilities to respect human rights and human dignity across their operations. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provide the clearest expression yet of these responsibilities. Since 2011 our campaign has focused on benchmarking banks, challenging finance for human rights abuses and engaging for better international standards.

Banks, like all companies, produce greenhouse gases (GHG) directly from their activities, but their most important contribution to GHG emission is indirect, through the financing of clients and projects that generate GHG emissions. Banks also continue to play a key role as major financiers of the coal and oil and gas industry, effectively delaying the much needed shift away from a fossil fuel-based to an efficient and renewables economy. Banks must play their part in stopping climate change. 

In 2016 BankTrack launched the Equator Principles Track and Chase Project ("EPTC"). With this project, we aim to strengthen public scrutiny of the activities of the Equator Principles Association and the implementation of the Equator Principles (EPs) by individual Equator Principles Financial Institutions (EPFIs).

The Green Bonds Principles are a set of guidelines for issuers of green bonds issued in January 2014 and updated in March 2015. The Principles include recommendations for improving the transparency of the rapidly growing market for green bonds - which can include any bond designed to raise money for environmentally beneficial purposes. BankTrack is an Observer of the Principles, and tracks the development of the green bonds market.