Itaú Unibanco, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America top financiers of Amazon disruption
Global lenders have provided more than $2bn (£1.6bn) in financing for new oil and gas projects in the Amazon so far this year, with Brazilian and US banks emerging as key backers, while many European lenders have scaled back their involvement
Ahead of the COP30 Summit in Brazil next month, banks have collectively channelled a further $2bn into fossil fuel ventures in the Amazon since the beginning of 2024, according to new research by campaign group Stand.earth.
The report, The Banks vs. The Amazon Scorecard, ranks 18 financial institutions, including the ten largest oil and gas financiers of the past decade as well as those with specific Amazon-related policies. The findings show that European lenders such as BNP Paribas, HSBC and Santander have made gradual progress towards meeting their pledges to curb financing linked to rainforest destruction. By contrast, Itaú Unibanco, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America have increased their fossil fuel exposure in the region.
Since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2016, banks have provided more than $15bn (£12.3bn) in fossil fuel financing for projects affecting the Amazon. Just ten institutions — including JP Morgan, Itaú, Citi, Bank of America and HSBC — account for nearly three-quarters of that total.
Martyna Dominiak, Stand.earth’s senior climate finance campaigner and lead author of the scorecard, said: “The Banks vs. The Amazon scorecard and Amazon Banks Database update present not only a clear opportunity but an urgent deadline ahead of COP30 for banks to stop financing fossil fuels in the Amazon. For Indigenous Peoples resisting extractivism — and their allies — the region’s first climate COP is a pivotal moment demanding an Amazon free from fossil fuels.”
The findings come as Ecuador and Peru auction dozens of new oil blocks across the rainforest, while Brazil’s government has approved an oil exploration licence for state-owned Petrobras near the mouth of the Amazon River in the Foz do Amazonas basin.
Investors have also intensified stewardship efforts targeting major banks over their fossil fuel exposure. Shareholder resolutions on climate financing have been filed at the HSBC, Barclays and BNP Paribas annual meetings in recent years.
In the United States, global pension funds supported a resolution filed last year by the Comptroller of the City of New York at the annual meetings of Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, calling for the disclosure of each bank’s annual clean energy financing ratio.
