Copublished with Canop\u00e9e<\/p>\n<\/div>
Paris, 28 February 2023 – As the One Forest Summit (1) opens this Wednesday, 1 March in Gabon under the auspices of France, Reclaim Finance and Canop\u00e9e reveal that the 4 largest French banks have collectively participated in 13 transactions worth US$15.3 billion (2) to support the two largest soy traders, Cargill and Bunge. The data raises questions about the effectiveness of the deforestation policies of BNP Paribas and Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale. As a result, the NGOs are calling on financial actors to move from words to deeds and to make their financial services to soy traders conditional on adopting measures to rapidly curb deforestation in Brazil.<\/p>\n<\/div>
Soybean production, which has more than doubled in the last 20 years, is one of the main drivers of deforestation worldwide. Faced with the explosion in demand for soy as a result of increasing levels of meat and dairy consumption, the Brazilian Cerrado region is today one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. Half of its original area has already been destroyed. Its loss would be a disaster for the climate and biodiversity as it stores the equivalent of 13.7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and is home to 5% of the world’s biodiversity.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
The One Forest Summit is avoiding the real issue: the financing of deforestation. To stop the destruction of forests, we already have the answer: French banks must recognize their responsibilities and cut their ties with companies that destroy these precious ecosystems.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div> Klervi Le Guenic, campaigner at Canop\u00e9e Soybeans account for 60% of imports of deforestation-risk products into Europe (3) and the fight against deforestation linked to their production is one of the pillars of the National Strategy to Combat Imported Deforestation (SNDI). However, despite the financial world\u2019s increasingly frequent pronouncements in favor of protecting biodiversity and combatting deforestation, the four largest French banks continue to finance soy traders, who are exposed to massive deforestation risks.<\/p>\n BNP Paribas, Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole, BCPE\/Natixis have together participated in 13 transactions with the two main international soybean traders, Bunge and Cargill since 2021, totaling US$15.3 billion. Over the same period, nearly 2 million hectares have disappeared in the Cerrado region of Brazil (4), the equivalent of the surface area of the Ile de France. In just five months in 2022, 31 new cases of deforestation (5) linked to soy were detected. Almost half of these were linked to Bunge, the trader with the most exposure to deforestation (6).<\/p>\n Cr\u00e9dit Agricole and BPCE\/Natixis do not have a policy on ending soy-related deforestation and the policies of BNP Paribas (7) and Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale (8) are not comprehensive enough to curb deforestation in the Cerrado. So, although BNP Paribas has committed to end its exposure to the risk of deforestation linked to soy from 2025, its policy suggests the bank will encourage its clients Cargill and Bunge not to buy or produce soy from deforested land after the deadline of 1 January 2020, although no sanctions are specified. Since the policy was adopted in February 2021, BNP Paribas has been involved in 10 transactions with Cargill and Bunge worth US$ 13.6 billion.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> BNP Paribas and Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale\u2019s commitment to fight against soy-related deforestation ring hollow in the light of the millions still being given to the main actors in this scourge. The situation is just as dramatic for Cr\u00e9dit Agricole and Natixis, who are conspicuous for their lack of policy to combat soy-related deforestation, even though this threatens both the climate and biodiversity. It is high time that financial institutions put their words into actions and made their financing conditional on the adoption of effective measures by soy traders.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div> Lucie Pinson, Reclaim Finance\u2019s Director<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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