World’s top banks ‘greenwashing their role in destruction of the Amazon’

The analysis found that on average, 71% of the Amazon is not effectively protected by banks’ risk management policies for climate change, biodiversity, forest cover, and Indigenous peoples’ rights. Photograph: Bram Ebus/The Guardian

Five of the world’s biggest banks are “greenwashing” their role in the destruction of the Amazon, according to a report that indicates that their environmental and social guidelines fail to cover more than 70% of the rainforest.

The institutions are alleged to have provided billions of dollars of finance to oil and gas companies involved in projects that are impacting the Amazon, destabilising the climate or impinging on the land and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples.