A press conference on the banks and investors behind destructive fossil fuel expansion in the Amazon and cutting the money flows to companies that disregard climate science and human rights.
Speakers:
“From 2022–2024, nearly 300 banks poured billions of US dollars into fossil fuel expansion in Latin America and the Caribbean, and more than 6,400 institutional investors held hundreds of billions of US dollars in securities in the companies behind it. Over 90% of those banks and investors are headquartered outside the region. It’s time to protect the Amazon and put Latin America and the Caribbean on track for a just energy transition. As long as money keeps flowing towards fossil fuel companies, the temperatures will keep rising.”
Heffa Schuecking, Director, Urgewald
“While the Amazon is facing a tipping point, financing for dirty oil and gas in the rainforest shows no signs of slowing down — since early last year, banks have poured over $2 billion into the sector. As our recent research in Banks vs. the Amazon reveals, European banks like BNP Paribas and HSBC, by adopting stronger safeguards for the Amazon, are outpacing their peers in exiting this destructive financing. Still, not a single bank has reached zero. To protect the world’s largest rainforest and the people who call it home, banks must close their loopholes and fully exit Amazon oil and gas — now, not later.”
Martyna Dominiak, Senior Climate Finance Campaigner, Stand.earth
“It’s outrageous that Bank of America, Scotiabank, Credicorp, and Itaú are increasing their financing of oil and gas in the Amazon at a time when the forest itself is under grave threat. For decades, Indigenous Peoples have suffered the heaviest impacts of this destruction. We are calling on banks to change course now: by ending support for extractive industries in the Amazon, they can help protect the forest that sustains our lives and the future of the planet.”
Olivia Bisa, President of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Chapra Nation, Peru