May, 05 2022, 07:39am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Travis Nichols | travis@stand.earth
Ada Recinos | ada@amazonwatch.org
Pendle Marshall-Hallmark | pendle@amazonwatch.org
Statement on BNP Paribas Pledge To End New Financing for Amazon Oil Drilling
Bank involved in industry deals worth 13.3 billion USD, move follows investigation by Stand.earth and Amazon Watch pushing firm to take a lead role in excluding Amazon oil and gas
SAN FRANCISCO
Yesterday, BNP Paribas became the first major bank to adopt a geographical exclusion of oil and gas from the Amazon rainforest. The commitment follows sustained pressure and engagement by Indigenous leaders and campaigners at Amazon Watch and Stand.earth since 2020. Through the Exit Amazon Oil & Gas campaign, advocates are demanding banks stop backing fossil fuel extraction in the world's largest rainforest, given its biodiversity, cultural importance, and vital role in regulating the Earth's climate. BNP Paribas' pledge to "no longer finance or invest in companies producing out of oil and gas reserves in the Amazon" or in [companies] "developing related infrastructures" is a momentous move for the rainforest currently at a tipping point of ecological collapse. The bank has also committed to "no longer finance any oil and gas projects and related infrastructure in the Arctic and in the Amazon regions."
If BNP follows through on its new commitment, it will have a significant impact on oil and gas operations on the ground in the Amazon. Soon to be released research by Stand.earth Research Group (SRG), in partnership with Stand.earth and Amazon Watch, reveals that BNP Paribas is involved in deals worth 13.3 billion USD for the oil and gas industry in the Amazon. This includes all loans and bond underwriting for active (open) deals and deals that have matured in the last 3 years.
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE) President Marlon Vargas made the following statement in response to the pledge:
"BNP Paribas's decision to stop financing new oil production in the Amazon is the first of its kind and a major milestone for us as Indigenous peoples. We are on the front lines in the forest, and live with the daily contamination, deforestation, and rights violations of the oil industry. This decision affirms what we have been calling for - that financing oil extraction in the Amazon is putting our lives, lands, and cultures at risk, and the health of our entire planet, and must stop. But we need other banks to follow suit. No one should be bankrolling oil extraction and destruction in the Amazon."
Tyson Miller, Amazon Program Director at Stand.earth, made the following statement in response to the pledge:
"BNP Paribas' commitment reinforces a growing understanding in the financial sector that oil drilling in the Amazon must end. Banks that are silent on this issue or continue to fund oil in the Amazon are out of touch with the immense climate, Indigenous rights, and biodiversity concerns that the world is facing."
Pendle Marshall-Hallmark, Amazon Watch Climate Campaigner, made the following statement in response to the pledge:
"Banks are realizing that the fossil fuel industry is a terrible financial investment, linked not only to climate chaos and environmental devastation but also gross human rights violations. Frontline communities have borne the brunt of BNP Paribas' history of support for the Amazon oil and gas industry, so this trail-blazing commitment to pull out of Amazon oil and gas is a wise and welcome one. We will be watching closely to see whether BNP Paribas actually excludes laggard companies that fail to decarbonize before the termination of their existing contracts."
Background:
This updated commitment builds off of a January 2021 commitment from BNP Paribas, following a groundbreaking report from the Exit Amazon Oil & Gas campaign that highlighted over $10 billion USD in trade financing provided to Amazon oil by European banks. In response to this report, BNP Paribas pledged to immediately exclude new oil trade from the Ecuadorian coastal port of Esmereldas, the largest exporter of oil and gas from the western Amazon region.
Campaigners are concerned about whether the firm will sell its current holdings in oil and gas companies operating in the Amazon given that BNP Paribas' Asset Management arm has been found to hold shares in GeoPark. GeoPark is a notorious Chilean oil company operating in the Putumayo region of the Colombian Amazon that has alleged ties to paramilitary groups terrorizing local campesino and Indigenous environmental activists. The situation in Putumayo is illustrative of a broader pattern tying support for the oil and gas industry in the Amazon to environmental and human rights violations throughout the rainforest.
In its pledge, BNP Paribas did not adopt the working definition of the "Amazon Biome" used by the Exit Amazon Oil and Gas campaign, defined by RAISG. Instead, it commits to exclude all financing and investment in new oil and gas projects located in regions designated as categories I to IV by the IUCN in either Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, or Venezuela, or in the Amazon Sacred Headwaters region.
The bank has also stated that it will not exclude financing for oil and gas companies "with the most credible transition plans towards a net-zero economy by 2050." BNP defined such "plans" as containing: a public commitment to align with a 1.5degC strategy; intermediary targets; a consistent capex program to back its diversification strategy away from fossil fuel production; a level of GHG emissions being measured and reported annually; strong leadership of the Board
Campaigners are wary that such vague criteria creates a loophole that will enable the bank to continue financing some of its largest oil and gas clients in the region. BNP Paribas must use the time remaining in its existing binding contracts to push clients to decarbonize and then follow through on its commitment to exclude if and when existing clients fail to adopt adequate transition plans within the remaining duration of their binding contracts.
Stand.earth and Amazon Watch launched the Exit Amazon Oil & Gas campaign after releasing the Banking on Amazon Destruction report. The report compared banks' environmental and human rights policy commitments to the impacts of their on-the-ground financing and found that BNP Paribas was at "high risk" of driving Amazon destruction due to its investment exposure and participation in RCFs (Revolving Credit Facilities) in Amazon oil and gas. The report's analysis found that BNP's policies related to deforestation and Indigenous rights (including the right of Indigenous peoples to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent) were lacking, and pushed the bank to re-examine its exposure to companies with records of poor behavior in these areas.
Amazon Watch is a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon's ecological systems.
Stand.earth (formerly ForestEthics) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with offices in Canada and the United States that is known for its groundbreaking research and successful corporate and citizens engagement campaigns to create new policies and industry standards in protecting forests, advocating the rights of indigenous peoples, and protecting the climate. Visit us at
LATEST NEWS
Amid Spying Fight, House Passes Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act
"As FANFSA and the 702 reauthorization move to the Senate, lawmakers in that chamber need to take a stand for the rights of people in the United States," said one advocate.
Apr 17, 2024
While applauding the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan passage of a bill to ensure that "law enforcement and intelligence agencies can't do an end-run around the Constitution by buying information from data brokers" on Wednesday, privacy advocates highlighted that Congress is trying to extend and expand a long-abused government spying program.
The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.
"The privacy violations that flow from law enforcement entities circumventing the Fourth Amendment undermine civil liberties, free expression, and our ability to control what happens to our data," said Free Press Action policy counsel Jenna Ruddock. "These impacts affect everyone who uses digital platforms that extract our personal information any time we open a browser or visit social media and other websites—even when we go to events like demonstrations and other places with our phones revealing our locations."
"We're grateful that the House passed these vital and popular protections," she added. "The bill would prevent flagrant abuses of our privacy by government authorities in league with unscrupulous third-party data brokers. Making this legislation into law with Senate passage too would be a decisive and long-overdue action against government misuse of this clandestine business sector that traffics in our personal data for profit."
Wednesday's vote followed the House sending the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act to the Senate. H.R. 7888 would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for warrantless spying on noncitizens abroad but also sweeps up Americans' data.
The House notably included an amendment forcing a wide range of individuals and businesses to cooperate with government spying operations but rejected an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the bill, which the Senate could vote on as soon as Thursday.
Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
"As FANFSA and the 702 reauthorization move to the Senate, lawmakers in that chamber need to take a stand for the rights of people in the United States," she argued. "That means passing FANFSA and reforming Section 702 authority—and prioritizing everyone's First and Fourth Amendment rights."
Jeramie Scott, senior counsel and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Project on Surveillance Oversight, also praised the House's FANFSA passage on Wednesday.
"The passage of the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale underscores the extent to which reining in abusive warrantless surveillance is a bipartisan issue," Scott said. "We urge the Senate to take up this measure and close the data broker loophole."
Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU, similarly said Wednesday that "the bipartisan passage of this bill is a flashing warning sign to the government that if it wants our data, it must get a warrant."
Hamadanchy added that "we hope this vote puts a fire under the Senate to protect their constituents and rein in the government's warrantless surveillance of Americans, once and for all."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a critic of the pending 702 bill and FANFSA's lead sponsor in the upper chamber, called the the House's Wednesday vote "a huge win for privacy" and said that "now it's time for the Senate to follow suit."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Leaked Cables Show Biden Pressuring Nations to Oppose Palestine's UN Membership
"This is the evidence that President Biden's talk about a two-state solution is nothing but idle talk," said one former Lebanese diplomat.
Apr 17, 2024
As the United Nations Security Council prepares to vote Thursday on Palestine's bid to become a full U.N. member, the Biden administration—which claims to support Palestinian statehood—is lobbying UNSC nations in an effort to wrangle enough "no" votes so that the United States can avoid resorting to a veto.
Leaked cables obtained by The Intercept show U.S. pressure on Security Council members including Malta—which currently presides over the body—and Ecuador.
While claiming that President Joe Biden backs "Palestinian aspirations for statehood," one of the cables asserts that "it remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward a political horizon for the Palestinian people is in the context of a normalization agreement between Israel and its neighbors."
"We therefore urge you not to support any potential Security Council resolution recommending the admission of 'Palestine' as a U.N. member state, should such a resolution be presented to the Security Council for a decision in the coming days and weeks," the document advises.
The U.S. argument essentially is that the U.N. should not create an independent Palestinian state by fiat—even though that's precisely how the world body voted in 1947 to establish the modern state of Israel.
The renewed push for Palestine's U.N. membership comes as Israel wages a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority, which hasn't controlled Gaza for nearly two decades, rejected the Biden administration's requests to hold off on seeking full membership.
"We wanted the U.S. to provide a substantive alternative to U.N. recognition. They didn't," one unnamed Palestinian official toldAxios on Wednesday. "We believe full membership in the U.N. for Palestine is way overdue. We have waited more than 12 years since our initial request."
As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw noted:
Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take up consideration of its membership application. According to the first State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.
Along with the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom are permanent members of the UNSC, so they also have veto power.
Ahead of Thursday's planned vote, Spain has been doing its own lobbying in Europe to build greater support for Palestinian statehood. At a joint Tuesday press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said the question is "when, not if, but when is the best moment to recognize Palestine."
Belgium—which is seeking economic sanctions against Israel in response to its genocidal war on Gaza—is expected to join Spain's push for Palestinian statehood after the country's European Union presidency expires in June.
Currently, 139 of the U.N.'s 193 member states recognize Palestine as an independent state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who has also claimed to support a so-called "two-state solution"—has alternately boasted about thwarting Palestinian statehood.
Critics pointed to the leaked cables as more proof of U.S. duplicity and double standards on the Israel-Palestine issue.
"This is the evidence that President Biden's talk about a two-state solution is nothing but idle talk," Massoud Maalouf, a former Lebanese ambassador to Canada, Chile, and Poland, said on social media.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Database Exposes 'Illicit Network Undermining Democracy Around the World'
Yanis Varoufakis hailed the effort as "a treasure chest of well-researched reports on how the reactionaries of the world unite."
Apr 17, 2024
"Coups. Assassinations. Riots. Detentions. Disinformation. We know the tactics that have been deployed to undermine our democracies. But who is behind them?"
Progressive International (PI) asks and answers this and other questions with an extensive new database published Wednesday that connects the dots in what the leftist group calls the "Reactionary International"—a loose global network of right-wing leaders and organizations working to subvert democratic institutions.
PI calls it an "illicit network undermining democracy around the world."
"Today is a mask-off moment for the Reactionary International and the parties, politicians, judges, journalists, foundations, think tanks, tech platforms, NGOs, activists, financiers, and entrepreneurs that comprise it," PI said.
"After a year of preparation, we finally open the doors to our new research consortium, exposing the global network of reactionary forces that corrode our democracies, destroy our planet, and drive us closer to world war," the group added.
"The twin insurrections at the U.S. Capitol in 2021 and Brasília's Three Powers Plaza in 2023 left no doubt about the international coordination of reactionary forces," PI argued. "Yet far too little is known about the entities of this network, their sources of financing, and their institutional allies operating inside our political systems."
Ultimately, PI aims to "support democratic systems to become more resilient to their insidious tactics."
From leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and former U.S. President Donald Trump—the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee—to evangelical Christian groups influencing laws in African countries criminalizing LGBTQ+ people and tech companies empowering ubiquitous state surveillance, Reactionary International is a who's-who of the world's right-wing forces.
A cursory search of the database's contents shows users can:
- Learn about Israel's NSO, Rayzone, and Team Jorge, and how a team of Tel Aviv tech entrepreneurs fuel unrest in Latin America;
- Meet the Grey Wolves, Turkey's roving death squad with links to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ethno-nationalists in his governing coalition; and
- Explore the global network of the Falun Gong, its Trump-connected media outlet The Epoch Times, and its traveling dance troupe known as Shen Yun.
Yanis Varoufakis, a PI member and secretary-general of the left-wing Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, called the database "a treasure chest of well-researched reports on how the reactionaries of the world unite."
PI invites the public to contribute to the database.
"Together, we will not only name, shame, and expose the forces of the far right—but also dismantle their network of complicity," the group said.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular