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Banco SantanderSpain

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Last update: 2024-02-13 00:00:00
Banco Santander head office. Photo: Author Year of the dragon via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Active

This profile is actively maintained
Last update: 2024-02-13 00:00:00
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About
Website http://www.santander.com
Headquarters
Santander Group City. Avda. de Cantabria s/n
28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid
Spain
CEO/chair Héctor Grisi Checa
CEO
Supervisor
Banco de España
Ownership
listed on Bolsa de Madrid, Borsa Italiana, Brazil Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange & NYSE

Banco Santander's shareholder structure can be accessed here.
Subsidiaries
Banco Popular Espanol – Spain

Banco Santander, founded in 1857, is a Spanish bank and the fifth largest bank in Europe in terms of assets. The bank has expanded since 2000 through a number of acquisitions and has operations across Europe, Latin and North America America and Asia. Together with its subsidiaries, it provides various retail and commercial banking products and services for both individual and business clients. In June 2017 Banco Santander acquired Banco Popular Español.

Sustainability
Commitments
Policies
Voluntary standards

Santander's most important sustainability commitments can be found at the website sections listed below.

Links

Policies

ESG web page

Environmental, Social & Climate Change Risk Management policy

Bank policy
2024-01-18 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Green, Social & Sustainability Funding Global Framework

Bank policy
2023-06-20 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Defence sector policy

Bank policy
2023-03-07 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Responsible Banking and Sustainability policy

Bank policy
2023-03-03 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Code of conduct

Bank policy
2022-08-03 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Information on the integration policies of sustainability risks

Bank policy
2021-03-10 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Human rights policy

Bank policy
2020-07-20 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Soft commodities sector policy

Bank policy
2020-01-21 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Mining & metals sector policy

Bank policy
2020-01-21 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Anti-corruption policy

Bank policy
2019-03-11 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Modern Slavery Statement 2018

Bank policy
2019-02-25 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Principles of responsible behaviour for suppliers

Bank policy
2018-12-03 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Anti-money Laundering and Countering Terrorism Financing Corporate Framework

Bank policy
2017-07-20 00:00:00 | Santander
Banco Santander has committed itself to the following voluntary standards:
Banking Environment InitiativeTags:
Carbon Disclosure ProjectTags: carbon | climate change | greenhouse gas emissions
Collective Commitment to Climate Action (CCCA)Tags: climate change | corporate social responsibility | United Nations
Dow Jones Sustainability IndicesTags: sustainable development | transparency
Equator PrinciplesTags: Equator Principles | project finance | corporate social responsibility | sustainable development
Global Reporting InitiativeTags: sustainable development | human rights
Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA)Tags: climate change | corporate social responsibility | energy | energy plants
Paris Agreement Capital Transition Assessment (PACTA)Tags: corporate social responsibility
Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB)Tags: climate change | corporate social responsibility | finance | sustainable development | United Nations | Voluntary Standards
Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)Tags: corporate social responsibility | sustainable development | United Nations
Roundtable for Responsible Soy (RTRS)Tags: agriculture | commodities | soy
Soft Commodities CompactTags: Deforestation | forest
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)Tags: corporate social responsibility | finance
Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)Tags: corporate social responsibility | finance
UNEP Finance InitiativeTags: United Nations | sustainable development
United Nations Global CompactTags: United Nations | human rights
Wolfsberg PrinciplesTags: finance | corruption
World Business Council for Sustainable DevelopmentTags: sustainable development | corporate social responsibility
Dodgy Deals

Banco Santander is linked to a number of companies and projects that BankTrack considers controversial (so called Dodgy Deals), e.g. as a current or past financier or through an expression of interest. The profiles below provide more details on the nature of Banco Santander's link to these deals.

Projects / Companies
Finance type
Year
News
BankTrack
Partners
Blog
External
Blog
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Banks ready to finance false solutions to the climate crisis

BankTrack’s new False Solutions Tracker, mapping bank definitions of renewables, finds that most banks include ‘false solutions’ within their sustainable/green finance targets.
2024-11-11 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
Blog
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European banks’ on-going support for fossil fuels is blocking energy transition

2024-11-07 | Reclaim Finance
Blog
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Banks’ low-ambition and incoherent climate targets put net zero goals at risk – new ShareAction analysis

2024-11-05 | ShareAction
Blog
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Major banks fueling biodiversity collapse by $395 billion since the Paris Agreement; Governments failing to reign in banks

New reports reveal escalating financing to destructive sectors and highlight the urgent need for financial sector regulations to achieve Global Biodiversity Goals
2024-10-16 | San Francisco | BankTrack, Amazon Watch, CED Cameroon, Friends of the Earth US, Milieudefensie, Profundo, Rainforest Action Network, Repórter Brasil, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, TuK Indonesia
Blog
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Energy supply financing ratios: the next milestone in banks’ climate strategy

The energy supply financing ratio is a key indicator that synthesizes two major challenges in limiting global warming to 1.5°C: the phase-out of fossil fuels and the development of sustainable alternatives.
2024-10-07 | Reclaim Finance
Blog
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TotalEnergies and financial markets: Financial institutions engaged for decades of pollution

2024-09-30 | Reclaim Finance
Blog
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Barclays earned $1.7 billion from company tied to Indigenous land invasion

Financial powerhouses including Barclays, Vanguard and BlackRock made millions from financing Brazilian meatpacker JBS
2024-09-26 | London | Global Witness
Blog
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Banks must overhaul climate targets to deliver emissions cuts, new analysis finds

Reclaim Finance is urging banks to rethink their targets, and in particular to jettison the widely used “financed emissions” and “facilitated emissions” targets.
2024-09-19 | Reclaim Finance
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Frontline communities take the stage at bank AGM’s

AGMs remain crucial for community grievances, while executives seek to limit activist shareholder participation
2024-07-30 | Nijmegen, The Netherlands | Deniz Ozkil – BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

BankTrack set to publish 2024 Global Human Rights Benchmark in November

50 of the world’s largest banks were invited to provide feedback on draft assessments of their human rights disclosures
2024-07-23 | Nijmegen, Netherlands | Giulia Barbos – BankTrack
Blog
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Gulf Coast residents and major organizations call on financial institutions to phase out financing of LNG projects in the Rio Grande Valley

“We will hold any financial institutions that choose to support these projects accountable for such impacts.”
2024-07-22 | New York City | Sierra Club
Blog
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Banks fail to substantially respond to communities impacted by ArcelorMittal on climate and human rights concerns

2024-07-18 | BankTrack, Fair Steel Coalition, Reclaim Finance, SteelWatch
Blog
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Coalition calls on European and Japanese banks to stop financing methane gas export projects on the United States Gulf Coast

2024-06-28 | BankTrack
Blog
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European financial institutions invest billions in arms companies that sell weapons to Israel

2024-06-20 | BankTrack, 11.11.11-Koepel van Internationale Solidariteit, Association France Palestine Solidarité, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Centre National de Coopération au Développement, European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine, European Legal Support Center, European Trade Union Network for Justice in Palestine, Fagforbundet - Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees, FairFin, Handel og Kontor i Norge (HK Norway), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya, Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, Norwegian People, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, PAX, The Rights Forum, Trocaire
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Environmental and Social policies of major Amazon oil and gas financiers fail to protect the Rainforest and its peoples

New report reveals that only one of the top six banks financing oil and gas extraction in the Amazon has an effective policy to protect the region
2024-06-11 | San Francisco (Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone Lands) | Coordinating body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin (COICA), Stand.earth
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

World’s top banks ‘greenwashing their role in destruction of the Amazon’

2024-06-11 | The Guardian
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

El Banco Santander es la tercera entidad mundial que más ha invertido en gas fósil licuado (GNL) en 2023

BankTrack mentioned
2024-05-13 | Tercera Informacion
Blog
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Banks financed fossil fuels by $6.9 trillion dollars since the Paris Agreement; $705 billion provided in 2023 alone; JPMorgan Chase, Mizuho, and Bank of America are worst 3 funders

Annual Banking on Climate Chaos report with an updated methodology offers comprehensive look at who’s bankrolling the climate crisis
2024-05-13 | BankTrack, urgewald, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banks fall for ArcelorMittal’s shiny claims and finance its dirty flames

Don’t be fooled by ArcelorMittal's “low carbon” sponsorship of the Olympic Games
2024-05-08 | Julia Hovenier – BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

The Transatlantic Battle to Stop Methane Gas Exports From South Texas

As legal efforts fall short, residents are pursuing a novel strategy to halt the building of export terminals on unspoiled wetlands: Lobby Europeans to reject gas from the U.S.
2024-04-10 | Capital & Main
Blog
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New Report: Bankrolling Ecosystem Destruction

EU banks have poured €256 billion into sectors that threaten nature and climate
2024-03-27 | Amsterdam | Greenpeace International, Harvest, Milieudefensie
Blog
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The banks financing dirty steel

The world’s major banks continue to support the largest and most polluting steel producers
2024-03-26 | Paris, France | Reclaim Finance
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander weakened fossil fuel policy after raising billions for gas projects

BankTrack mentioned
2024-03-21 | The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
Blog
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How Dutch banks finance agrilobby in Brazil

The new report exposes the links between Dutch financial institutions and agribusiness lobby
2024-03-21 | Amsterdam | Eerlijke Bankwijzer, Fair Bank Guide Netherlands
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Still butchering the planet

The big-name financiers bankrolling livestock corporations and climate change – 2024 update
2024-03-18 | London | Feedback
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banks driving increase in global meat and dairy production, report finds

Financiers providing billion-dollar support for industrial livestock companies to expand leading to unsustainable rise in production
2024-03-18 | London | the Guardian
Blog
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New benchmark from BankTrack shows Latin American banks falling short on human rights

All 17 Latin American banks assessed are meeting fewer than half of their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles
2024-03-12 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
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The credit chainsaw

A review of how EU-based banks are pouring billions into deforestation
2024-03-12 | Global Witness
Blog
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Financiers warned of huge risks to communities and biodiversity as Rio Tinto approves world’s biggest mining project

2024-02-26 | Accra, Ghana and Nijmegen, Netherlands | BankTrack, Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA)
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

The Cerrado crisis: Brazil’s deforestation frontline

Everyone knows the Amazon is in crisis. But next door, another ecological catastrophe is unfolding.
2024-02-21 | Global Witness
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New report by Global Witness "The Cerrado crisis: Brazil’s deforestation frontline"

Deforestation footprint of Brazil’s three biggest meat companies five times larger in fragile Cerrado than in Amazon
2024-02-21 | Global Witness
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander arranged billion-dollar oil bond after making green pledge

HSBC also helped on refinery deal that will boost Amazon oil production
2024-02-19 | The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Following the money behind Amazon oil development

Santander and HSBC worked on Petroperú bond issuance despite its record of Amazon oil spills
2024-02-19 | FT
Blog
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67 organisations call on banks to cease financing metallurgical coal

Banks risk stranded assets & climate catastrophe in steel lending without metallurgical coal exclusions
2023-12-07 | Nijmegen | BankTrack, Reclaim Finance
Blog
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UK banks providing billions in financing to big livestock corporations responsible for higher greenhouse gas emissions than UK and Ireland

2023-12-01 | Feedback
Blog
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European Finance Flows fuelling the climate crisis: The role of Article 2.1c under the UNFCCC

The EU’s call for COP28 to address the world’s climate-harming financial flows not matched by its own efforts at home, research by ActionAid reveals
2023-11-30 | ActionAid
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Financial institutions in the EU are driving harm to the environment and human rights

2023-10-31 | WWF
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

UBS and Santander’s ‘green’ bonds linked to deforesters and rancher accused of slave labour in Brazil

2023-10-17 | Greenpeace Unearthed
Blog
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Decarbonization: steel not making the cut

Analysis by Reclaim Finance shows that few financial institutions have steel targets, and that those that have been adopted are riddled with flaws
2023-08-23 | Reclaim Finance
Blog
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Indigenous leaders call on top Brazilian banks to end financing of oil & gas in Amazonia

2023-08-10 | Stand.earth
Blog
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New research shows eight major banks responsible for majority of US$ 20 billion in financing for oil and gas companies destroying the Amazon

Banks including JPMorgan Chase, Itaú Unibanco and Banco Santander financed deals directly traced to activities in Peru, Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador
2023-07-25 | Belem, Brazil | Stand.earth
Blog
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Banks committed to net zero still funding North Sea oil expansion by Equinor

Over 60 organisations have written to Equinor's biggest bankers warning them not to fund the company's controversial Rosebank oil field due to climate risks.
2023-07-04 | BankTrack
Blog
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Understanding how Brazilian banks finance agribusiness

2023-07-03 | Fair Finance International
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Pump ass, not gas

Why the LGBT Awards must drop banks as well as big oil
BankTrack mentioned
2023-06-28 | huck
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Challenging banks on their Dodgy Deals this AGM season

Our AGM wrap up blog
2023-06-27 | Natasha Ion – BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Game of Thrones stars challenge big banks over fossil fuel links

Kit Harington and Rose Leslie attend ‘couples therapy’ in Richard Curtis film for Make My Money Matter
2023-04-18
Blog
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Cash, Cattle and the Gran Chaco: How financiers turned a blind eye to Paraguay’s deforestation crisis

2023-04-17 | Global Witness
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New report: Canadian bank RBC the #1 financier of fossil fuels, world’s biggest banks continued to pour billions into fossil fuel expansion

Annual Banking on Climate Chaos report follows the money and details massive bank support for the world’s worst climate-destroying corporations
2023-04-13 | San Francisco | BankTrack, urgewald, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

The human and environmental cost of Europe financing industrial animal farming

2023-04-12 | Friends of the Earth Europe, Justice is Everybody's Business
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banks' energy policies reflect net-zero ambition gap

Restrictions on upstream oil and gas financing aren't the silver bullet that the sector needs to achieve its climate goals.
2023-02-23 | Euromoney
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New report reveals the 40 financial institutions funding the world's climate-changing methane problem

A new report by Planet Tracker and Changing Markets reveals the top financial institutions funding the world’s biggest methane producers, and the role they can play in turning the tide on global heating.
2023-01-17 | London | Changing Markets, Planet Tracker
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

The number of major banks refusing to support EACOP reaches 24

2022-12-31 | BankTrack
Blog
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Europe’s largest banks falling short on climate and biodiversity action

New ShareAction research uncovers urgent need for UK and European banking sector to close loopholes in climate and biodiversity strategies
2022-12-12 | ShareAction
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

European financial institutions heavily invested in companies involved in illegal Israeli settlements

725 European Financial Institutions found to provide billions of dollars in finance to companies operating in Israel's illegal settlement enterprise
2022-12-05 | Brussels | Don't Buy Into Occupation
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New human rights assessment of banks shows slow progress and lack of action to address key gaps on reporting and remedy

BankTrack’s 2022 Global Human Rights Benchmark finds reporting at a standstill, remedy still lacking and no clear leaders
2022-11-17 | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Bank financiers of harmful wood biomass have no policies addressing impacts, shows new study

A briefing from BankTrack details impacts of the wood biomass industry and calls on banks to exclude sector from finance
2022-10-21 | BankTrack
Blog
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Global bank policies ‘dangerously inadequate’ to prevent financing of deforestation, climate chaos and human rights abuses

As the climate and biodiversity crisis intensifies, credit to forest-risk commodity companies increased 160% between 2020 and 2021.
2022-10-18 | Forests & Finance Coalition
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

More major banks and insurers refuse to support EACOP

Lloyds syndicates silent amid human rights abuses
2022-10-14 | BankTrack, #StopEACOP
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

European Parliament passes emergency resolution against human rights violations & environmental threats linked to EACOP

2022-09-16 | BankTrack, #StopEACOP
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Finance groups risk being kicked out of Mark Carney-led climate coalition

2022-08-22 | London, UK; and Boston, USA | Financial Times
Blog
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Jackdaw shows once again Shell is failing on climate. So why are its bankers failing to act?

2022-07-19 | The Hague, The Netherlands | Sumeyra Arslan – BankTrack
Blog
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New report: Largest European banks bankroll high-risk arms traders

2022-07-12 | PAX
Blog
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BankTrack hosts webinars on the 2022 Banking on Climate Chaos report

Webinar programme organized along with Reclaim Finance, Amazon Watch and 350 Latin America featured frontline community activists from Uganda to Ecuador
2022-06-30 | Savon van den Berk
Blog
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Banks and financiers back beef giant JBS to the tune of almost $1bn despite links to widespread deforestation, land grabbing and slave labour in the Amazon

2022-06-23 | Brazil | Global Witness
Blog
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Banks urged to stop funding Shell if it proceeds with Jackdaw gas field

Climate activists have urged banks to sever financial ties with Shell if it goes ahead with plans to develop a controversial new gas field in the North Sea.
BankTrack mentioned
2022-06-03 | The Ferret
Blog
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Climate groups call on Shell’s bankers to stop Jackdaw gas field

UK government’s regulatory approval opens the door for Shell to move ahead with the Jackdaw field
2022-06-03 | BankTrack
Blog
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12 banks lend $8 billion to oil and gas expansionist TotalEnergies

2022-05-13 | Reclaim Finance
Blog
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Banco Santander takes a step on big oil, but what about big meat?

2022-05-02 | Nijmegen, The Netherlands | Sumeyra Arslan – BankTrack
Blog
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Investors and supermarkets urged to drop JBS after shock rise in its climate emissions

2022-04-21 | DeSmog, Feedback Global, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Mighty Earth
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Big Meat. Big Oil. Big Arms Trade.

At Santander's AGM, campaigners call on the bank to Divest The Big.
2022-04-01 | Natasha Ion – BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New report: Despite ‘net zero’ rhetoric, world’s biggest banks continued to pour billions into fossil fuel expansion in 2021

Annual Banking on Climate Chaos report follows the money and details massive bank support for the world’s worst climate-destroying corporations
2022-03-30 | San Francisco, Bemidji, Nijmegen, Oakland, Paris, Sassenberg, Washington DC | BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club, Urgewald
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

What the war in Ukraine teaches us

Lessons for European governments, companies and financiers - a Profundo Expert View
2022-03-04 | Jan Willem van Gelder - Profundo
Blog
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Repeat offenders NAB, ANZ and Westpac bankrolling “bet against the Paris Agreement”

NAB, ANZ and Westpac are among 18 global banks that have loaned to a gas processing facility that paves the way for a carbon bomb at the scale of 15 coal power stations.
2022-01-20 | Market Forces
Blog
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Banks failing to address severe human rights impacts transparently, finds BankTrack research

Findings reinforce the need for regulators to ensure access to effective remedy for people affected by bank finance
2021-12-14 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

European financial institutions are investing in companies in illegal Israeli settlements

The Don’t Buy Into Occupation (DBIO) coalition’s new report exposes the financial relationships between European financial institutions and companies actively involved with the illegal Israeli settlements. Hannah Greep and Adrian Lakrichi from BankTrack look at the banks and financial institutions implicated.
BankTrack mentioned
2021-11-17 | Ethical Consumer
Blog
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Glasgow wrap-up: updates from banks and civil society at COP26

With COP26 behind us, it’s as clear as ever before that banks must act urgently to help achieve the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 C.
2021-11-17 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Climate groups call out banks lobbying for watered down Net Zero Commitments

Stop the Money Pipeline organizations respond to news that on behalf of a group of 12 banks, HSBC lobbied Mark Carney’s GFANZ to scrap mandatory science-based targets and delay a deadline.
2021-11-09 | New York | BankTrack, Stop the Money Pipeline
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Activists tell banks and investors to stop doing business with the world’s largest meat company JBS

Company's USD 1 billion “sustainability-linked bond” will allow expansion of Amazon deforestation and massive greenhouse gas emissions, say campaigners
2021-11-03 | BankTrack, Forests & Finance
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Subvertising stunt sees spoof Santander ads in Glasgow bus stops, two days before COP26 begins in the host city

2021-10-29 | Glasgow | BankTrack, Subvertisers
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Spoof Santander posters appear across Glasgow ahead of COP26

Spoof Santander posters have been appearing across Glasgow in an effort by climate campaigners to highlight the bank's funding of fossil fuels ahead of COP26.
BankTrack mentioned
2021-10-29 | Glasgow | The National
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Meet the banks funding the owners of the Cambo oil field

New research shines a spotlight on the banks backing Shell and Siccar Point Energy
2021-10-29 | #StopCambo
Blog
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Equator Banks involved in financing at least 200 fossil fuel projects since Paris

BankTrack research sheds new light on finance for fossil fuels by Equator banks
2021-10-26 | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New report exposes billions in European financial support to companies in illegal Israeli settlements

2021-09-29 | Don't Buy Into Occupation
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

For the sake of cheap soya: railway and waterway threaten the Amazon

2021-09-29 | Society for Threatened Peoples
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Fossil Banks No Thanks demands banks commit to end fossil fuel finance before Glasgow Climate Summit

210+ groups support urgent call to action
2021-09-23 | BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Letter from ClientEarth to 17 banks regarding the Cambo oil field

2021-09-14 | ClientEarth
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

North Sea oil field development shows banks’ hypocrisy over climate

ClientEarth sends letter to 17 banks urging them to stop financing Shell and Siccar Point Energy, the companies pushing for the Cambo oil field
2021-09-14 | ClientEarth
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

European banks storing €20bn a year in tax havens

2021-09-06 | The Guardian
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New research puts big banks’ sustainability claims in doubt

While 20 of Europe’s 25 largest banks have pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, none have matched these long-term ambitions with comprehensive plans to avert climate change and biodiversity loss
2021-09-06 | London | ShareAction
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Forests & Finance Coalition warns foreign investors about the risk of the anti-environment agenda in the Brazilian Congress

2021-08-19 | Forests & Finance
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Brazilian meat company JBS issues "sustainability-linked" bonds: Forests & Finance coalition responds

2021-06-25 | Forests & Finance
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

JBS shows SLB label is nothing without scrutiny

2021-06-18 | Global Capital
Blog
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Fossil assets: the new subprimes?

How funding the climate crisis can lead to a financial crisis
2021-06-10 | Institut Rousseau, Les Amis de la Terre, Reclaim Finance
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

World’s 50 largest banks and investors driving deforestation through weak policies and major investments, new study finds

Top investors BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, PNB, EPF, GPIF, and KWAP all amongst lowest scoring
2021-06-08 | Forests & Finance
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Piden a bancos internacionales suspender inversiones ligadas a junta birmana

2021-05-27 | swissinfo.ch
Blog
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Banks called upon to take action to protect biodiversity ahead of UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming

Civil society organizations urge banks to adopt stringent “No Go” policy for biodiversity rich areas
2021-05-26 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New bank climate initiative fails to grasp urgent need to end finance for fossil fuels

Civil society statement on the launch of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance
2021-04-22 | Nijmegen | BankTrack, urgewald, Amazon Watch, Bank on our Future, Indigenous Environmental Network, Market Forces, Positive Money, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, ShareAction, Sierra Club
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Leading finance firms sign up to Mark Carney forum on low-carbon investment

2021-04-21 | The Guardian
Blog
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More than half of Europe’s bank directors too compromised to end fossil fuel finance

2021-04-07 | DeSmog
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banking on Climate Chaos 2021: World’s 60 largest banks have poured USD 3.8 trillion into fossil fuels since Paris Agreement

Even amidst the global economic downturn, fossil fuel financing numbers were higher in 2020 than 2016
2021-03-24 | Nijmegen | BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

EUR 146 billion for trash? How banks and the plastics industry are forcing a global environmental catastrophe

2021-03-04 | Berlin | Facing Finance
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander Group Aims to Achieve Net-Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050

2021-02-26 | The Fintech Times
Blog
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Beefing up risk: the exposure of JBS’ financiers to financial, regulatory and reputational risks

2021-02-11 | Marília Monteiro - BankTrack, Merel van der Mark - Environmental Paper Network
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banking beyond deforestation

How the banking industry can help halt and reverse deforestation
2021-01-18 | Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Bank lending to plastics industry faces scrutiny as pollution concerns mount

2021-01-07 | Reuters
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Five years lost - How the finance industry is blowing the Paris carbon budget

2020-12-10 | Paris | urgewald, Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), Friends of the Earth US, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, ReCommon
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Major global banks complicit in widespread destruction of the Amazon rainforest linked to Brazilian beef companies, and international audits flawed

2020-12-03 | Global Witness
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Six years of the Soft Commodities Compact failed to slow bank finance for deforestation

New BankTrack research shows need for banks to move beyond certification requirements
2020-12-01 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Equator Banks fail communities on consultation and grievance mechanisms, new study finds

BankTrack research into nine projects financed ‘under Equator’ finds routine failures to conduct proper community consultation and a lack of effective project-level grievance mechanisms
2020-11-24 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Barclays, HSBC and Credit Suisse among worst offenders on oil sands finance

ShareAction says Barclays has participated in 11 loan and bond deals to oil sands companies since its net zero announcement in March
2020-10-29 | London | ShareAction
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

A call to action on the Principles for Responsible Banking: End climate-destructive financing now

2020-10-20
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Principles for Responsible Banking no obstacle to finance climate destruction

Twenty PRB banks provided over US$1.25 trillion in fossil fuel financing since Paris Agreement
2020-09-22 | Nijmegen | BankTrack, Rainforest Action Network
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New BankTrack Equator Principles reporting tracking tool launched

2020-09-21 | BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banks are fueling deadly fires, Covid-19 threatens to compound the risks

2020-09-08 | forestsandfinance.org
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banks funnelled over USD 150 billion into companies driving deforestation since Paris Agreement, new data analysis shows

First-ever database reveals true scope of financing of forest-risk commodity companies, amidst global rainforest fires
2020-09-01 | San Francisco | BankTrack, Forests & Finance, Rainforest Action Network
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Bradesco, Itaú, and Santander Launch Plan Promoting Sustainable Development in Amazon

2020-07-23 | The Rio Times
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Revealed: UK banks and investors' $2bn backing of meat firms linked to Amazon deforestation

2020-06-04 | The Guardian
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Campaigners urge Santander to set ambitious timetable for fossil fuel exit ahead of AGM

2020-04-02 | Nijmegen | BankTrack, Ecologistas en Accion, Foundation “Development YES - Open-Pit Mines NO”, IIDMA
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Global finance sector failing to apply conservation criteria to pulp and paper funding

2020-03-21 | New York/Amsterdam | Environmental Paper Network
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banking on Climate Change – Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2020

New report reveals global banks funneled USD 2.7 trillion into fossil fuels Since Paris Climate Agreement, with financing on the rise each year 
2020-03-18 | Nijmegen | BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Pobladores/as se toman terrenos de Forestal Arauco en Laraquete

2020-03-12 | Resumen.cl
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Twenty percent of Dominican Republic territory at risk from fossil fuel auction, banks warned to steer clear

2019-11-26 | Nijmegen, the Netherlands | CNLCC, Re:Common, BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

4 out of 5 banks failing on human rights, new BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark shows

Lloyds, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Société Générale among the poorest performers in BankTrack ranking, alongside Canadian and Chinese banks
2019-11-26 | BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Aramco IPO: These are the banks and advisers on world's biggest sale

2019-11-03 | Bloomberg
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

We are letting banks off the hook for financing environmental destruction - that must change

2019-10-23 | Independent
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander criticised for investments in Polish coal expansion

2019-10-17 | Environmental Finance
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander criticised for investments in Polish coal expansion

BankTrack mentioned
2019-10-17 | Environmental Finance
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

How long will Santander continue to profit from Polish coal expansion?

The Spanish bank's use of ‘ESG loans’ for companies with fossil fuel expansion plans is part of a dangerous new trend
2019-10-16 | Greig Aitken – BankTrack, Kuba Gogolewski – Development YES Open-Pit Mines NO
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Money to burn

More than 300 banks and investors back six of the world’s most harmful agribusinesses to the tune of $44bn
2019-09-23 | Global Witness
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Revealed: major banks and investors including Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock are pouring money into global forest destruction

New investigation by Global Witness uncovers for the first time a truly global picture of major financial players driving $44 billion into companies directly or indirectly involved in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, the Congo Basin and Papua New Guinea.
2019-09-23 | Global Witness
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander e condenado por metas abusivas e adoecimento mental de bancarios

2019-09-11 | Economia
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Global NGOs: Dirty Dozen Companies Driving Deforestation Must Act Now to Stop the Burning of the World's Forests

Groups call for the immediate suspension of all business and financing with traders active in the Brazilian Amazon "The Amazon is on fire. Corporations share the blame. They need to become part of the solution."
2019-08-30 | Amazon Watch
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Responsible banks can't ignore climate change

2019-08-25 | Santander CEO
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Leak exposes millions of dollars in new payments in Odebrecht cash-for-contracts scandal

2019-06-25 | International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

BankTrack 2019 Human Rights Benchmark: criteria and scope announced

2019-06-25 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Brazilian's public prosecutors office is suing banks for providing credit to companies that are on the slave labour black list

(article in Portuguese)
2019-05-24 | Opovo online
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Dirty Profits 7 - Out of Control: Irresponsible weapons transfers and future weapon systems

2019-05-22 | Frankfurt am Main | Facing Finance
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Fool’s Gold – €16bn for Europe’s biggest climate polluters

2019-05-21 | Berlin | Beyond Fossil Fuels
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander’s deep support for fossil fuel industry challenged at bank’s AGM

2019-04-12 | Santander, Spain | BankTrack, Foundation “Development YES - Open-Pit Mines NO”
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Global Banks, Led by JPMorgan Chase, Invested $1.9 Trillion in Fossil Fuels Since Paris Climate Pact

2019-03-20 | Desmogblog.com
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banking on Climate Change – Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2019

World's top banks have poured $1.9 trillion into fossil fuel financing since the Paris Agreement was adopted, with financing on the rise each year
2019-03-20 | Nijmegen, the Netherlands | BankTrack, Honor the Earth, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banks be warned – Poland’s PGE wants to blow the house and the climate on coal expansion extravaganza

Latest distress signal from new financial results another reason for potential financiers to walk away
2019-03-14 | Warsaw, Poland | Kuba Gogolewski – Development YES Open-Pit Mines NO
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Every two weeks a bank, insurer or lender announces new coal restrictions

Major financial institutions restricting coal funding tops 100
2019-02-27 | IEEFA
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Six Billion Reasons to Go After the Banks

The case for legal action against the big banks that created and profited from Puerto Rico’s debt crisis
2019-02-20 | Public Accountability Initiative
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banks massively financing fossil fuels unclear about future of ... fossil fuels

Few banks acknowledge relation between fossil fuels and climate breakdown
2018-12-20 | Nijmegen
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander move on coal finance welcome but ‘far from enough’ to address its climate impacts, say groups

2018-12-13 | Madrid, Spain | BankTrack, Ecologistas en Accion, IIDMA
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Principles must bring commitments

Banks endorsing draft Principles for Responsible Banking called upon to urgently act on what they sign
2018-11-26 | Paris | BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Cum-ex tax scandal cost European treasuries €55 billion

2018-10-18 | Die Welt
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Major new coal support loan for Poland's PGE, international bank consortium slammed

2018-09-20 | Warsaw, Poland | BankTrack, Foundation Development YES Open-Pit Mines NO, ReCommon, Sandbag
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Masses march against corruption in Dominican Republic

2018-08-12 | teleSUR
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banco Santander: The deed of the merger by absorption of Banco Popular Español by Banco Santander has been registered with the Commercial Registry

2018-04-24 | Twst.com
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Report finds major banks ramped up fossil fuel financing to $115 billion in 2017

Despite 2017 being the costliest year on record for weather disasters, new report reveals that banks increased extreme fossil fuel financing last year, led by a more than doubling in lending to tar sands companies and pipelines.
2018-03-28 | Nijmegen, the Netherlands | BankTrack, Honor the Earth, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

European NGOs challenge Banco Santander climate policy at Annual Meeting

IIDMA questions Banco Santander's climate policy and requested clarification on its financing of coal companies in Poland
2018-03-23 | Madrid | BankTrack, Foundation Development YES Open-Pit Mines NO, IIDMA, ShareAction
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Big banks complicit in massive tar sands destruction and pollution through hundreds of billions in financing

2017-11-02 | Rainforest Action Network
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Operation Car Wash and a coal plant in the Dominican Republic – anti-corruption protestors are not giving up

2017-10-10 | Luca Manes – Re:Common
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Scandalo Lava Jato, Santo Domingo si ribella contro la corruzione. E c'entra anche l'Italia

2017-10-03 | l'Espresso
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Medina’s only option: terminate Odebrecht power plant contract

2017-08-28 | Dominican Today
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Punta Catalina perdería el financiamiento europeo que le resta para su terminación

2017-08-04 | Proceso
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Financiers of pulp and paper industry projects will cause environmental and social harm, says new report

2017-08-01 | Mandy Haggith – Environmental Paper Network
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

TCFD: banks supporting better disclosure are not the ones exiting coal project finance

Bank support for FSB Task Force recommendations is welcome, but reveals lack of joined-up thinking
2017-07-31 | Ryan Brightwell – BankTrack, Yann Louvel – BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Punta Catalina – the coal plant project that keeps on giving … a headache to European banks

2017-07-31 | Greig Aitken – BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banco Popular acquisition

Press release Banco Santander
2017-06-07 | Banco Santander
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Europe’s biggest banks register €25 billion profit in tax havens

2017-03-27 | Fair Finance International, Oxfam
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Power plant 'one year behind schedule'

2017-02-08 | Dominican Today
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Anti-impunity marches to continue

2017-02-03 | Dominican Today
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

La Société Générale priée de renoncer à financer la centrale charbon de Punta Catalina

BankTrack mentioned
2017-01-26 | Boursier.com
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Dominicans on the march against Punta Catalina kickbacks, and want financiers out of the coal plant project

2017-01-23 | Greig Aitken – BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Odebrecht corruption in Dominican Republic – Five European banks urged to pull out of dirty coal plant financing

2017-01-18 | BankTrack, Les Amis de la Terre, National Committee to Combat Climate Change
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Punta Catalina Commission to subpoena top officials

2017-01-17 | Dominican Today
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

March aims to indict corrupt officials, Odebrecht executives

2017-01-16 | Dominican Today
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Five European banks pressured not to tolerate corrupt practices at Dominican coal plant project

2017 | BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Odebrecht must be terminated: civil society group

2016-12-29 | Dominican Today
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Odebrecht $92 million bribe: Just hours to deadline, utility produces papers

2016-12-27 | Dominican Today
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Activists protest Santander bank’s role in Puerto Rico debt crisis

2016-12-21 | Center for Puerto Rican Studies
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

A graveyard of unfinished work left in development bank’s wake

2016-12-01 | Bloomberg
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New report finds banks betting on climate change

Seventh annual bank finance Report Card reveals major banks poured hundreds of billions into extreme fossil fuels
2016-06-14 | Nijmegen, San Francisco | BankTrack, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club and Oil Change International
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

European banks warned over raid on pension funds to finance disputed coal plant in Dominican Republic

2016-05-27 | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | CNLCC, BankTrack, Les Amis de la Terre France
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

APRIL announces new sustainability policy after campaign pressure on its financiers

2015-06-08 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Indonesian Paper Firm April to Halt Deforestation

2015-06-03 | The Wall Street Journal
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Result: Santander stops financing forest destroyer APRIL

2015-02-26
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

GREENPEACE UK ACTION: SANTANDER'S LENDING POLICY, SPECIFICALLY WITH REGARDS TO DEFORESTATION

2015-02-25 | Santander
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander Bank cuts off APRIL due to deforestation

2015-02-24 | Mongabay
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Chinese banks funding rainforest destruction in Indonesia

BankTrack mentioned
2015-02-18 | Mongabay
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banks lend almost $2bn to “Indonesia’s biggest forest destroyer”

2015-02-17 | BankTrack Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Fossil fuel divestment campaign grows as protesters target UK banks

2015-02-13 | The Guardian
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander: Stop Financing Extinction

2015-02-10 | Greenpeace
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

El beneficio del Santander crece un 39% en 2014 hasta 5.816 millones

2015-02-03 | El País
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander and ABN AMRO refuse to renew loans to APRIL

2015 | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Call for banks to divest from APRIL

Social conflict and environmental destruction are rife in its operations
2014-12-10 | Nijmegen | BankTrack, Mandy Haggith – Environmental Paper Network
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banks not yet living up to UN human rights principles, finds BankTrack

New research finds inadequate reporting on human rights impacts, and failure to establish mechanisms to allow complaints.
2014-12-02 | Geneva | BANKTRACK
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

El Banco Santander implicado en los incendios de la selva de Indonesia

2014-07-09 | Greenpeace
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

APRIL signed a USD 265 million loan agreement

2014-04-25 | Reuters China
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Equator Principles goes beyond project finance, improves transparency

2012-08-13 | Environmental Finance
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banco Santander ranked second in the Spanish armed banking

2012-03-28 | Madrid, Spain | SETEM
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

APRIL - PXF financing

2012-03-07 | Trade Finance Magazine
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Don’t bank on the bomb

2012-03-05 | Washington | ICAN
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New report: European banks fuelling food price volatility and hunger

2012-01-12 | Brussels | Friends of the Earth Europe
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Belo Monte dam does not meet sustainability criteria of world's private banks, say rights groups

2011-11-07 | Brazil | International Rivers and Amigos da Terra-Amazônia
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

While BankTrack criticizes Equator Principles, IFC celebrates Community of Learning

2011-10-25 | Washington | prizmablog.com
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Time to Improve the Equator Principles, BankTrack Says

BankTrack mentioned
2011-10-24 | Washington | Social Funds
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

BankTrack to Equator Principles banks; ‘get the Outside Job done’

Equator Principles update must lead to new Principles focused on people and planet
2011-10-23 | Washington | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Financiers search for sustainable future

BankTrack mentioned
2011-10-20 | Washington | Environmental Finance
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander Bank admits dam funding to continue

2011-07-11 | Survival
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander Bank reports suspension of funding for controversial dam

2011-05-05 | Survival
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Cluster bombs manufactured in Spain in 2007 and used by Gaddafi to bomb Misrata were financed by Spanish banks

Cajalón, Caja España, Caja Mediterráneo, Bankinter, Ibercaja, Banco Popular, Banco Sabadell and La Caixa involved
2011-05-04 | Madrid, Spain | SETEM
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Santander Bank reports suspension of funding for controversial Brazilian dam

2011 | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

European banks provide fuel for the conflict in Sudan

The limited scope of Sustainable Asset Management
2010-09-20 | Amsterdam | Somo
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New rules for Equator Principles, but no new commitments from banks

New governance rules represent missed chance for Equator Principles to take bold steps forward on transparency and accountability
2010-07-01 | Nijmegen, the Netherlands | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Los bancos puntúan bajo en sostenibilidad, transparencia y responsabilidad

El informe incluye por primera vez a bancos de economías emergentes como India o Tailandia
2010-04-28 | Madrid, Spain | Setem
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

BankTrack calls upon banks to Close the Gap on investment policies

New report evaluates quality of investment policies of 49 banks; more policies in place, overall quality below what is required
2010-04-27 | Nijmegen, the Netherlands | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Equator Principles: Action, not words needed

BankTrack calls upon Citi, new chair of Equator Principles to take bold steps forward
2010-03-15 | Nijmegen, The Netherlands | BankTrack
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

BankTrack members unveil bank secrets

Six European organizations launch a revealing website: www.banksecrets.eu
2009-06-25 | Brussels | CRBM
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Spain’s Banco Santander Criticized for Hypocrisy

Santander signs Equator Principles while financing Madeira Dam
2009-05-13 | Washington, D.C. | Amazon watch
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Major banks facilitate corruption in world's poorest countries; government regulation is not working

2009-03-11 | London | Global Witness
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Polêmicas ambientais e crise afastam financiamento de investidores privados

Folha de Sao Paolo
2009-03-08 | São Paulo- Brazil | Amigos da Terra Amazonia Brasileira
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Independent Experts Find Fatal Flaws in Amazon Dam Studies

International Rivers
2006-11-13 | Sao Paulo, San Fransisco | Amigos da Terra Amazonia Brasileira
Resources
Documents
Links

Banking on biodiversity collapse 2024

Partner publication
2024-10-16 00:00:00 | Forest and Finance Coalition

NZBA 2024 Progress Report

Other document
2024-10-01 00:00:00 | NZBA

Response Tracking – Letter to 20 banks on ArcelorMittal, sent June 10th 2024

NGO document
2024-07-17 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Open letter to EU & Japanese banks to end finance for LNG in the Gulf South, US

NGO document
2024-06-28 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Letter from BankTrack to Banco Santander on Risks of Banco Santander's relationship with ArcelorMittal

Correspondence
2024-06-10 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Banking on climate chaos 2024

Fossil fuel finance report 2024
BankTrack publication
2024-05-13 00:00:00 | BankTrack, urgewald, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance & Sierra Club

Climate Finance Report 2023

Other bank document
2024-04-30 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

ASSESSING PETROPERÚ’S FINANCIAL, LEGAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND SOCIAL RISKS

Risk Alert
Partner publication
2024-04-30 00:00:00 | Amazon Watch

Bankrolling Ecosystem Destruction

EU banks have poured €256 billion into sectors that threaten nature and climate 
Partner publication
2024-03-26 00:00:00 | Greenpeace International, Milieudefensie, Harvest

How the Netherlands finances agrilobby in Brazil

A case study for the Fair Bank Guide Netherlands
NGO document
2024-03-21 00:00:00 | Fair Bank Guide Netherlands

Still Butchering the Planet

Partner publication
2024-03-18 00:00:00 | Feedback

Finance for War. Finance for Peace

How values-based banks foster peace in a world of increasing conflict
Other document
2024-02-28 00:00:00 | Banca Etica Group and the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV)

Annual report 2023

Annual report
2024-02-22 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

The Cerrado crisis: Brazil’s deforestation frontline

Partner publication
2024-02-21 00:00:00 | Global Witness

Letter from BankTrack, Both ENDS and 12 other CSOs to Vale's investors on Brumadinho disaster 5th anniversary

Correspondence
2024-01-22 00:00:00 | BankTrack, Both ENDS and 12 other CSOs

Environmental, Social & Climate Change Risk Management policy

Bank policy
2024-01-18 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Letter from BankTrack to Banco Santander on Ending support for metallurgical coal

Correspondence
2023-12-07 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Bankrolling the butchers

The role of UK banks in financing industrial meat and dairy corporations
NGO document
2023-11-30 00:00:00 | Feedback

Letter from BankTrack, ACA, CTEA to Banco Santander on the risks of investing in Rio Tinto and Winning International Group’s Simandou Project in Guinea

Correspondence
2023-11-20 00:00:00 | BankTrack, ACA, CTEA

Santander Climate finance report

2022 - June 2023
Annual report
2023-08-01 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Letter from BankTrack and 60 civil society groups to 20 bank financiers of Equinor on Equinor's proposed North Sea field Rosebank

Letter to financiers of Equinor on their client's ownership of Rosebank
Correspondence
2023-07-04 00:00:00 | BankTrack and 60 civil society groups

Green, Social & Sustainability Funding Global Framework

Bank policy
2023-06-20 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Banking on Climate Chaos 2023

Annual Banking on Climate Chaos report follows the money and details massive bank support for the world’s worst climate-destroying corporations
BankTrack publication
2023-04-13 00:00:00 | Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club, Urgewald

Defence sector policy

Bank policy
2023-03-07 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Annual report 2022

Annual report
2023-03-03 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Responsible Banking and Sustainability policy

Bank policy
2023-03-03 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Background briefing: Just 7% of global banks' energy financing goes to renewables, new data shows

BankTrack publication
2023-01-27 00:00:00 | Profundo for Sierra Club, Fair Finance International, BankTrack, Rainforest Action Network

In debt to the planet

Europe’s largest banks are not doing enough to address the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.
NGO document
2022-12-12 00:00:00 | ShareAction

BankTrack Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022

BankTrack publication
2022-11-17 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Who is financing fossil fuel expansion in Africa?

BankTrack publication
2022-11-15 00:00:00 | Urgewald, BankTrack, 350.org Africa, Africa Coal Network & Oilwatch Africa, et al.

Burning forests in the name of clean energy? How banks are failing to exclude the harmful wood biomass industry from finance

BankTrack publication
2022-10-21 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Responses received to letters sent to signatories of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero

Other document
2022-10-17 00:00:00 | London Stock Exchange

Code of conduct

Bank policy
2022-08-03 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Vaca Muerta Basin: An Oil & Gas Trap

IMF and global capital markets neglect the risk of ballooning Argentina’s debt and liability problem
NGO document
2022-07-29 00:00:00 | Profundo, 350.org Argentina

Letter from BankTrack and Mars se Drine to Santander on Rio Tinto Jadar Lithium Mine

Correspondence
2022-07-14 00:00:00 | BankTrack and Mars se Drine

Letter from BankTrack, 350.org, Bank on our Future and Uplift to 25 banks on Shell's proposed Jackdaw gas field

Correspondence
2022-06-03 00:00:00 | BankTrack, 350.org, Bank on our Future and Uplift

Banking on Climate Chaos 2022

Despite ‘net zero’ rhetoric, world’s biggest banks continued to pour billions into fossil fuel expansion in 2021
BankTrack publication
2022-03-30 00:00:00 | Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club, urgewald

Sustainable Finance Classification System (SFCS)

Other bank document
2022-03-24 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Annual report 2021

Annual report
2022-03-14 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Actions speak louder: Assessing bank responses to human rights violations

BankTrack publication
2021-12-14 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Letter from BankTrack to Santander Bank on lithium mining in Serbia’s jadar valley

Correspondence
2021-12-12 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Drill, baby, drill

How banks, investors and insurers are driving oil and gas expansion in the Arctic
NGO document
2021-09-23 00:00:00 | Reclaim Finance

Recipients of the letter about the risk of the anti-environment agenda in the Brazilian Congress

NGO document
2021-08-19 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Fossil assets: the new subprimes?

How funding the climate crisis can lead to a financial crisis
NGO document
2021-06-10 00:00:00 | Institut Rousseau, Reclaim Finance, Les Amis de la Terre

The Big Smoke

The global emissions of the UK financial sector
NGO document
2021-05-25 00:00:00 | Greenpeace and WWF

Key Cerrado Deforesters in 2020 Linked to the Clearing of More Than 110,000 Hectares

NGO document
2021-05-03 00:00:00 | Chain Reaction Research

Commitment statement Net Zero Banking Alliance

Other document
2021-04-21 00:00:00 | UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking

Information on the integration policies of sustainability risks

Bank policy
2021-03-10 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Annual report 2020

Annual report
2021-03-09 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Big meat. Big bucks. Bigger harm.

Animal welfare and European financial links with deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado
NGO document
2021-03-05 00:00:00 | World Animal Protection and Profundo

Santander Group sets ambition to be net zero by 2050, supported by first decarbonization targets

Other bank document
2021-02-22 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Banking beyond deforestation

How the banking industry can help halt and reverse deforestation
Other document
2021-01-18 00:00:00 | Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership

Collective Commitment to Climate Action - Year One in Review

Other document
2020-12-08 00:00:00 | UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking

Soft Commitments, Hard Lessons: an analysis of the Soft Commodities Compact

BankTrack publication
2020-11-30 00:00:00 | BankTrack

"Trust Us, We're Equator Banks": Part II

BankTrack publication
2020-11-24 00:00:00 | BankTrack

The Banking Environment Initiative (BEI) & the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF)’s ‘Soft Commodities’ Compact

Other document
2020-11-16 00:00:00 | Banking Environment Initiative

The BEI & CGF’s ‘Soft Commodities’ Compact: Technical Guidance

Other document
2020-11-16 00:00:00 | Banking Environment Initiative

High Risk, Low Reward

An overview of European banks' position on oil sands
NGO document
2020-10-31 00:00:00 | ShareAction

A Call to Action on the Principles for Responsible Banking: End Climate-Destructive Financing Now

Joint civil society statement
BankTrack publication
2020-10-20 00:00:00 | BankTrack, Rainforest Action Network, and others

Human rights policy

Bank policy
2020-07-20 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Annual report 2019

Annual report
2020-05-19 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Banking on Climate Change - Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2020

BankTrack publication
2020-03-18 00:00:00 | Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club

Soft commodities sector policy

Bank policy
2020-01-21 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Mining & metals sector policy

Bank policy
2020-01-21 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Letter from BankTrack to Santander on the bank's progress on its fossil fuel finance since COP24

Correspondence
2019-12-10 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Money to Burn

How iconic banks and investors fund the destruction of the world’s largest rainforests
NGO document
2019-09-23 00:00:00 | Global Witness

Collective Commitment to Climate Action

Other document
2019-09-19 00:00:00 | UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking

Letter from Santander to BankTrack on PRB implementation

Correspondence
2019-09-11 00:00:00 | Santander

Fool's Gold

The financial institutions bankrolling Europe’s most coal-dependent utilities
NGO document
2019-05-21 00:00:00 | Europe Beyond Coal

Annual General Meeting Shareholder Briefing Santander (Spanish)

BankTrack publication
2019-04-11 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Annual General Meeting Shareholder Briefing Santander (English)

BankTrack publication
2019-04-10 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Annual report 2018

Annual report
2019-03-11 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Anti-corruption policy

Bank policy
2019-03-11 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Modern Slavery Statement 2018

Bank policy
2019-02-25 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

General Sustainability Policy

Other bank document
2018-12-03 00:00:00 | Banco de Santander

Principles of responsible behaviour for suppliers

Bank policy
2018-12-03 00:00:00 | Banco Santander

Letter from BankTrack and 120 organisations to Santander on Demands FBNT campaign

Correspondence
2018-10-16 00:00:00 | BankTrack and 120 organisations

CSR report 2017

Annual report
2018-02-16 00:00:00 | Santander

Annual Report 2017

Annual report
2018-02-05 00:00:00 | Santander

Letter from 30 Indonesian NGOs to PT RAPP financiers on current situation of PT RAPP (APRIL's main supplier)

Correspondence
2017-11-24 00:00:00 | 30 Indonesian NGOs

Anti-money Laundering and Countering Terrorism Financing Corporate Framework

Bank policy
2017-07-20 00:00:00 | Santander

Annual Report 2016

Annual report
2017-05-16 00:00:00 | Santander

Sustainability Report 2016

Annual report
2017-05-16 00:00:00 | Santander

Analysis of social and environmental risk in credit operations

Other bank document
2016-08-22 00:00:00 | Santander

2015 Annual Report

Includes Corporate Governance report
Annual report
2016-08-15 00:00:00 | Santander

Shorting the Climate

Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2016
BankTrack publication
2016-06-14 00:00:00 | BankTrack, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, Oil Change International

Poland – Banks funding the dirtiest form of coal

BankTrack publication
2016-06-13 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Green Paper, Red Lines

Requirements for pulp and paper industry finance
BankTrack publication
2016-06-02 00:00:00 | BankTrack, Environmental Paper Network

Code of conduct in securities markets

Other bank document
2016-03-02 00:00:00 | Santander

2015 Sustainability Report

Annual report
2016-02-01 00:00:00 | Santander

EU Investors, Land Grabs and Deforestation: Case-Studies

Briefing note
NGO document
2015-06-15 00:00:00 | Fern

The end of coal?

2015 Coal Finance Report Card
BankTrack publication
2015-05-04 00:00:00 | BankTrack, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club

Annual Report 2014

Includes Corporate Governance report
Annual report
2015-03-24 00:00:00 | Santander

2014 Sustainability Report

Annual report
2015-03-01 00:00:00 | Santander

Letter from EPN to Banks investing in April on APRIL

Correspondence
2014-12-10 00:00:00 | EPN

Sustainability Report 2013

Annual report
2014-01-01 00:00:00 | Santander

Annual Report 2013

Includes Corporate Governance report
Annual report
2014-01-01 00:00:00 | Santander

Sustainability Report 2012

Annual report
2013-05-08 00:00:00 | Santander

Annual report 2012

Includes Corporate governance report
Annual report
2013-05-08 00:00:00 | Santander

CSR Report 2011 minisite

Annual report
2012-05-01 00:00:00 | Santander

Annual Report 2011

Annual report
2012-03-12 00:00:00 | Santander

Banks and Arms: Explosive investments

A Ranking of the Spanish Arms-Funding Banks
NGO document
2012-03-01 00:00:00 | Jordi Calvo Rufanges - Centre d’Estudis per la Pau J.M. Delàs · Justícia i Pau

Segunda notificação extrajudicial- Complexo Hidreletrico de Belo Monte- Santander

Correspondence
2011-10-25 00:00:00 | Amigos da Terra- Amazonia Brasileira

Notificação extrajudicial: teor da presente notificação- Santander

Correspondence
2011-10-25 00:00:00 | Amigos da Terra- Amazonia Brasileira

2011 Global Investor Statement on Climate Change

Other document
2011-10-19 00:00:00 | IIGCC, INCR, IGCC, UNEP-FI, PRI

Dirty Business: Spanish banks financing producers of controversial weapons

Other document
2011-05-05 00:00:00 | Profundo

Letter from BankTrack to EPFIs on issues around Equator Principles Review process

Correspondence
2010-12-18 00:00:00 | Banktrack

Close the Gap

Evaluacion de las politicas de inversion de los bancos internacionales
BankTrack publication
2010-10-01 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Close the Gap

Benchmarking investment policies of international banks
BankTrack publication
2010-04-27 00:00:00 | BankTrack

Setem pide al Santander en su Junta de Accionistas que se retire de Río Madeira

Other document
2009-06-19 00:00:00 | Setem

Intervention of Annie Yumi Joh - SETEM at Santander´s AGM 2009

Other document
2009-06-19 00:00:00 | Annie Yumi Joh

EIS Problems Brief

NGO document
2009-02-13 00:00:00

El Derecho Al Agua

NGO document
2009-01-05 00:00:00

Intervention SETEM - Victor Maeso at Santander AGM

Other document
2008-06-21 00:00:00

Intervention Luis Novoa - Red de Brasil sobre Instituciones Financieras Multilaterales at Santander AGM

Other document
2008-06-21 00:00:00

Intervention of Annie Yumi Joh - SETEM at Santander AGM 2008

Other document
2008-06-21 00:00:00

Profiles of European Banks

NGO document
2008-01-11 00:00:00 | Ceres

Santander: Vínculos financieros con empresas y projectos controvertidos en el mundo

NGO document
2007-12-15 00:00:00 | SETEM

Brazil offers Bolivia "a gift" - but at what cost?

Other document
2007-11-20 00:00:00 | Glenn Switkes

Correspondencia: Ministerio de relaciones y cultos de la República de Bolivia al ministro de relaciones exteriores de la República Federerativa del Brasil

Correspondence
2007-07-10 00:00:00 | David Choquehuanca, ministro de relaciones exteriores y cultos

Pronunciamiento de los Pueblos Amazónicos de Bolivia y Brasil frente a la próxima reunión de los presidentes de los gobiernos de Bolivia y Brazil, Evo Morales e Ingácio Lula da Silva, sobre las represas del río Madera

Other document
2007-02-03 00:00:00 | Representatives of towns and communities of the Amazon region of Bolivia and Brazil

30 Errors in the Environmental Impact Assesment for the Madeira River Hydroelectric Complex

NGO document
2006-11-20 00:00:00 | Amigos da Terra Amazônia Brasileira, International Rivers

Pronunciamiento de la Región Amazónica de Bolivia en torno a las represas proyectadas sobre el río Madera

Other document
2006-10-12 00:00:00 | Representatives of the northern Amazon region of Riberalta, Bolivia
Accountability
Grievances
Response tracking

Even though Banco Santander does not operate a grievance mechanism, its whistleblowing channel is open to anybody covering a wide range of issues, potentially including human rights breaches (other issues).

Stakeholders may also raise complaints via the OECD National Contact Points (see OECD Watch guidance).

Banco Santander is an Equator Principles signatory. While the Equator Principles have no official grievance mechanism, complaints relating to this bank's financing of Equator Principles projects can be filed through our own website www.equator-complaints.org.

This page evaluates Banco Santander's responses to instances of alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, raised by civil society organisations. It is not intended to be exhaustive, but covers selected impacts raised by BankTrack and other civil society partners since 2016. For the full scoring methodology, see here. For more information about BankTrack's evaluation of bank responses to human rights impacts, see the 2021 report "Actions speak louder: assessing bank responses to human rights violations".

Impacts reviewed
Responded?
Total score
Response
Action
Monitoring
ArcelorMittal steel impacts (June 2024)
0
0
0
n/a
Dodgy Deal profile
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank does not acknowledge its link to the impacts or ArcelorMittal, citing that "The Bank’s consistent practice is not to comment on information relating to clients or specific transactions."
Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action.
Monitoring
n/a
Rationale for score
The impact was not raised over a year ago and therefore is not scored on monitoring progress.
More info
See the summary of bank responses here. See this bank's response here.
Deforestation in the Amazon (July 2019)
0
0
0
0
Dodgy Deal profile
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond.
Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action.
Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank monitored progress.
More info
Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, 2019
Don't Buy into Occupation report (September 2021)
0
0
0
0
Dodgy Deal profile
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond.
Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action.
Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank monitored progress.

Following the bank's response: The bank has not provided details on how it monitored the progress of specific companies or how the bank monitored the impact on rights-holders involved in raising the issue with the bank of its own action of updating the Agriculture sector policy. Therefore, the score remains unchanged.

More info
"Don't Buy Into Occupation" report, Sept 2021
Don't Buy into Occupation report (November 2022)
0
0
0
0
Dodgy Deal profile
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond.
Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action.
Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information to indicate the bank is monitoring the actions of its clients, or actions it might itself have taken in response to the impacts raised.
More info
"Don't Buy Into Occupation" report, November 2022
Finance for JBS and links to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (March 2023)
0
0
0
0
Dodgy Deal profile
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank responded publicly but without acknowledging the bank's link to the impact and citing client confidentiality.
Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action.
Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank monitored progress.
More info
"Global Witness calls on financiers to stop financing JBS", March 2023
Average
40%
0
0
0
0
Banks and Climate

Banks and Climate

The 2024 Banking on Climate Chaos report showed that Banco Santander provided US$ 79.881 Billion in financing to the fossil fuel industry between 2016 and 2023. In 2023 only, Banco Santander provided US$ 9.677 Billion for oil, gas and coal companies expanding fossil fuels. Find further details on Banco Santander fossil fuel portfolio and how it compares to other large banks globally on Fossil Banks No Thanks and in the Banking on Climate Chaos report.

Fossil fuel finance data Banco Santander

Banking on Climate Chaos finance data panel

Partner organisation Reclaim Finance tracks the coal, oil and gas policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool (CPT) and the Oil and Gas Policy Tracker (OGPT). BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of Banco Santander’s fossil fuel policy below.

Assessment of Banco Santander's coal policy in the Coal Policy Tool

Assessment of Banco Santander's oil and gas policy in the Oil and Gas Policy Tracker

False Solutions Tracker

BankLast update
Country
Wind Energy
Solar Energy
Geothermal Energy
Ocean Energy
Energy grids and storage
Hydropower
Hydrogen
Solid Biomass
Biofuels
CCUS
Nuclear Power
Details
Santander
2024-10-22
ESP
Explanation

The purpose of the False Solutions Tracker is to give a clear overview of energy technologies that fall under banks' individual sustainable finance commitments. The tracker lists 11 energy technologies that are usually associated with the energy transition and the decarbonisation of the economy. These technologies are defined here and classified in three categories:

  1. Real solutions: Technologies that deliver on a Just Transition towards Energy Democracy. BankTrack considers these technologies as real solutions only if and when they do deliver Energy Democracy.

  2. Solutions under strict conditions: Energy technologies that could be real solutions if they deliver on a Just Transition towards Energy Democracy but that could also be false solutions. This is the case of hydrogen and hydropower. On one hand, fossil-free and green hydrogen could be a real solution under certain conditions. However, fossil-based hydrogen and nuclear hydrogen are always false solutions. On the other hand, hydropower lifespan extension could also be a real solution under strict conditions while hydropower expansion is a false solution.

  3. False solutions: Energy technologies that are not aligned with a just transition towards Energy Democracy.

For each one of the 11 energy technologies, the tracker indicates if it is included in bank's individual sustainable finance commitments:

 

For Real solutions:

  • ​​: Yes, the bank includes its finance towards this energy technology in its sustainable finance reporting.
  • ​: Yes, the bank includes its finance towards this energy technology in its sustainable finance reporting, but under certain conditions. In this case, those conditions are mentioned in the "relevant policy document" section for each bank.
  • ​: No, the bank does not include its finance towards this energy technology in its sustainable finance reporting.
  • ​ : It is unclear whether the bank includes or not its finance towards this energy technology in its sustainable finance reporting.

 

For solutions under strict conditions and for false solutions:

  • ​: Yes, the bank includes its finance towards this energy technology in its sustainable finance reporting.
  • ​: Yes, the bank includes its finance towards this energy technology in its sustainable finance reporting, but under certain conditions. In this case, those conditions are mentioned in the "relevant policy document" section for each bank.
  • ​: No, the bank does not include its finance towards this energy technology in its sustainable finance reporting.
  • ​: It is unclear whether the bank includes or not its finance towards this energy technology in its sustainable finance reporting.
For more details see this page.
Banks and Human Rights

Banks and Human Rights

BankTrack assessed Banco Santander in its 2022 Global Human Rights Benchmark, where it achieved 6 points out of 14 and was ranked as a follower. In addition, Banco Santander scored 0 out of 3 on how it responds to alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, which were raised by civil society organisations. More information is detailed in the "Accountability" section of this profile.

The BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark

BankTrack assessed Santander in its 2024 Human Rights Benchmark Latin America, part of the series of  BankTrack's Regional Benchmarks, where it achieved 4.5 points out of 14 and was ranked as a follower.

The BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark Latin America

Human Rights Benchmark Latin America 2024

BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Banco Santander
ESP
4.5
Follower 4.5
Explanation
Laggard
Follower
Moderate achiever
Leader
0 - 3 points
3.5 - 6.5 points
7 - 10 points
10.5 - 14 points
For more details see this page.

Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022

BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Banco Santander
ESP
6
Follower 6
Explanation
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 3 points
3.5 - 6.5 points
7 - 10 points
10.5 - 14 points
For more details see this page.
Banks and Nature

Banks and Nature

Santander’s policies for forest-risk sectors (beef, soy, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber and timber) have been assessed by the Forests & Finance coalition, achieving an overall score of 3.6 out of 10 and ranking it as a follower. Santander achieved a score of 3 out of 10 specifically for its policies related to the beef sector and 6.8 out of 10 for its policies related to the palm oil sector. In addition, BankTrack and the Environmental Paper Network have assessed Santander’s policies related to the pulp and paper sector. 

Between 2016 and 2022, Santander provided USD 11,086 million in credit to companies operating in these forest-risk sectors and held investments amounting to USD 29 million as of 2022.

BankTrack has also assessed Santander’s policies related to the wood biomass sector and found that while it does mention biomass in its policy, it refers to it as a source of renewable energy and does not exclude it from finance. For more information, see the links below. 

Forests & Finance

Banks and beef

Banks and palm oil

Banks and pulp & paper

Banks and biomass

Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Overall scores

BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Santander
2022-09-27
ESP
3.6
Follower 3.6
Explanation

A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its policies. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:

Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.

Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Beef

BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Santander
2022-09-29
ESP
3
Follower 3
Explanation

A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its beef policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:

Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.

Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Palm Oil

BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Santander
2022-09-29
ESP
6.8
Front runner 6.8
Explanation

A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its palm oil policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:

Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.
Tracking the NZBA

Tracking the Net Zero Banking Alliance

Banco Santander is a member of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and has therefore committed to reduce its financed emissions to net zero by 2050; within 18 months of joining the alliance set interim targets for 2030 (or sooner) for high emission priority sectors, and within 36 months set further sector targets; set new intermediary targets every 5 years from 2030 onwards; annually publish data on emissions and progress against a transition strategy including climate-related sectoral policies; and take a robust approach to the role of offsets in transition plans. BankTrack track's implementation of these commitments in the NZBA compliance tracker.

Tracking NZBA banks commitments
Banks and Russia

Banks and Russian Aggression in Ukraine

BankTrack is keeping track of the public response of Banco Santander to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. Banco Santander has publicly condemned the war. Banco Santander is considered by Leave-Russia.org to be "withdrawing" from Russia. We consider its exposure to Russia as limited. Banco Santander does not support the Russian fossil fuel industry. For further details, see the table linked below.

Bank responses to Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Banks and Steel

Banks and Steel

As part of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), Santander is required to set interim targets for 2030 for high emission priority sectors. For Santander, this includes its lending to the steel sector. You can see Santander’s iron and steel decarbonisation targets, and its progress towards meeting them in our NZBA steel targets compliance tracker:

NZBA Iron & Steel Targets

Partner organisation Reclaim Finance’s 2023 report on metallurgical coal financing showed that Santander provided US$ 3.7 billion in loans and underwriting to developers of new metallurgical coal between 2016 and 2022. Find further details on Santander’s metallurgical coal financing and and how it compares to other large banks globally in the report.

Reclaim Finance tracks the metallurgical coal policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool. BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of Santander’s metallurgical coal policy below.

According to a reportby Reclaim Finance, between 2016 and June 2023, Santander provided $4.4 billion in finance to the fossil-steel industry, making it the 32nd largest financier worldwide. Find further details on Santander's steel financing and how it compares to other large banks globally in the report. 

Metallurgical Coal Financing: Time to call it off 2023

Coal policy tool

Steeling our future: The banks propping up coal-based steel