Banks continue to play a key role as major financiers of the coal, oil and gas industry. This is effectively delaying the  urgent transition from a fossil fuel-based to an efficiency- and renewable energy-based economy. BankTrack’s climate and energy campaign demands from banks to play their part in stopping climate change by cutting all ties with the fossil-fuel industry.

BankTrack's human rights campaign pushes for banks to fully meet their responsibilities to respect human rights and human dignity across all 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 bank finance for human rights abuses and engaging for better international standards.

Banks have a large impact on forests worldwide as they finance companies and projects which initiate or cause deforestation. BankTrack's forest campaign pushes banks to act more responsibly regarding their forest-related investments and aims to stop banks from financing companies, projects and business activities that cause a large negative impact on forests.

The Equator Principles are a risk management framework, created and adopted by financial institutions, for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risks in financing projects. Since their adoption in 2003, BankTrack has tracked the Equator Principles and their implementation to strengthen the principles and ensure that EP banks no longer finance projects that are not compliant with the EPs.

The Principles for Responsible Banking (PRBs) are an initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). They encourage banks to align their operations with the social and environmental commitments expressed in the Paris Climate Agreement and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. BankTrack monitors the implementation of the PRBs through engagement with PRB banks to ensure that they deliver on what they promise.

The OECD Guidelines are recommendations to multinational enterprises - including banks - on responsible business conduct (RBC). BankTrack acts as an Advisory Group member of the OECD’s Proactive Agenda Project on RBC in the Finance Sector, monitoring and providing comments on the developing OECD due diligence guidance related to the financial sector. We also monitor OECD NCP complaints which involve financial institutions.

As Russia continues to invade Ukraine, BankTrack calls on banks to condemn the invasion and withdraw their business in Russia. We also keep close track of bank activities in, and bank policy moves on Russia