Partner News

Investing in Amazon destruction - new report by Amazon Watch

Why private financial institutions must divest from Amazon crude - now
2017-11-13
By: Amazon Watch
Contact:

Moira Birss, Communications Manager at Amazon Watch, +1 510 394 2041 or +1 510 281 9020

An October 2017 march in Oakland, CA calls on U.S. financial institutions to stop banking on climate destruction and indigenous rights violations. Photo: Amazon Watch
2017-11-13
By: Amazon Watch
Contact:

Moira Birss, Communications Manager at Amazon Watch, +1 510 394 2041 or +1 510 281 9020

Today Amazon Watch released a report, Investing in Amazon Destruction, demonstrating how global financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock put the climate, indigenous peoples, and their customers at risk with their continued financing of companies that drill for oil in the Amazon rainforest. Although JPMorgan and BlackRock have impressively-worded commitments to environmental and social corporate responsibility and their CEOs have made statements in support of initiatives like the Paris Climate Agreement, by investing in companies drilling for oil in the Amazon, they are literally bankrolling the path to an unlivable and inequitable world.
 

In addition to documenting this double speak, the report finds that the threat to climate stability and indigenous rights posed by oil extraction in the Amazon directly translates to serious legal, reputational, political, and financial risks for the operating companies and their financial backers.

Oil drilling in the Amazon devastates indigenous communities and one of the ecosystems most vital to avoiding climate chaos. Indigenous communities know this and are actively resisting projects by companies financed by JPMorgan and BlackRock, including GeoPark, which recently bought a concession to explore for oil on Achuar territory in the Peruvian Amazon; Andes Petroleum, which has plans to drill for oil on Sápara territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon; and Frontera, which insists on maintaining a drilling contract in Peru despite massive indigenous protests.

Take action to #EndAmazonCrude! Visit Amazon Watch's website: amazonwatch.org/investing-in-amazon-destruction.

Download the report Investing in Amazon Destruction here.

 
 
Banks