There are hundreds of oil and gas operations across the Amazon Rainforest. And while critics have gone after them for reckless environmental damage, those companies also don’t work alone. They need support from big banks that provide direct funding through loans and underwriting bonds, which themselves need to be regulated, critics say. In recent years, increasing pressure on the banks has led to new environmental policies meant to minimize financing for projects tied to deforestation, pollution and human rights violations. The banks tend to celebrate their policies for being ambitious and effective. But many environmental groups say they’re actually far from adequate, and even amount to greenwashing. A joint investigation by several conservation groups looked at more than 560 financial transactions involving more than 280 banks and 80 oil and gas companies working in the Amazon, concluding that what the banks claim to be doing for the environment is far from the “true impacts of their policies.” In fact, some of the biggest bankrollers of oil and gas (Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, Itaú Unibanco, Santander and Bank of America) only apply their policies to about a third of the rainforest, leaving the rest vulnerable to potential environmental destruction. The areas where the policies do apply still aren’t completely protected, the report said. “Through their deceptive policies and empty promises, these banks are attempting to greenwash oil and gas extraction in the Amazon, and obscure the destructive impacts of their ecosystem-devastating investments,” said report co-author Angeline Robertson, senior investigative researcher at Stand.earth.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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