Big finance still funds deforestation, 10 years after Paris pact
Big finance still funds deforestation, 10 years after Paris pact
Big finance still funds deforestation, 10 years after Paris pact
A new report by the Forests & Finance Coalition finds that despite years of voluntary climate commitments, banks and other financial institutions have continued to increase their investments in companies linked to deforestation. The value of investments in these companies — in industries such as beef, soy, palm oil and paper — has increased by almost $8 billion since the Paris Agreement was signed a decade ago, the report finds.
As of September 2025, investors held $42 billion in bonds and shares in more than 191 forest-risk companies identified in the report. The three largest investors are Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and Employees Provident Fund, both Malaysian state-owned entities, and U.S. investment manager Vanguard. Banks, including Brazil-based Banco do Brasil, Sicredi and Bradesco, provided $429 billion in loans and underwriting to more than 300 forest-risk companies, representing a 35% increase between 2016 and 2024.
“A decade after the Paris Agreement, we see little to no action from banks and investors to stop the money pipeline to tropical forest destruction,” Merel van der Mark, Forests & Finance Coalition coordinator and co-author of the report, told Mongabay in an email. “In fact, our data shows that overall, credit and investment keep growing, while banks and investors lack the necessary policies and processes to ensure this money will not harm forests, people and the climate. This means that we need far stronger, and mandatory, measures to start shifting these financial flows.”
None of the institutions mentioned in this story responded to Mongabay’s request for comment.
Investments vary by region, the report notes. North American, East Asian and Southeast Asian investors have increased their investments in forest-risk companies by $4.5 billion, $1.5 billion and $5.1 billion, respectively, since 2015, while European and South American investors have lowered their investments by $179 million and $2.4 billion.
Overall, the report concludes that a decade of voluntary commitments, such as the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, have failed to curb destructive financing. The report calls for stricter regulations to ensure financial institutions include biodiversity and human rights risks into their risk management processes. Institutions must also strengthen accountability, due diligence and corporate disclosure, the report notes.
“To achieve real change, stronger regulations are needed,” Van der Mark said. “These should prohibit the financing of deforestation and rights violations, and must ensure financial institutions are held accountable for the impacts they finance. This would also create a level playing field and create change at the sector level.”
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We also see no action from consumers who continue to patronise banks more and more, and who look away from the war on cash.
Individual climate actions against banks:
We also see very little action from investors or consumers to support the sustainable harvest of non-timber forest products such as Brasil nuts as an alternative to the products of deforestation. People must shift their mindset to value the forest more when it is standing than when it has been cut.