Overview
Forests & Finance is an initiative by a coalition of campaign and research organisations including Rainforest Action Network, TuK Indonesia, Profundo, Amazon Watch, Milieudefensie, CED Cameroon, Repórter Brasil, Observatório da Mineração, BankTrack, Sahabat Alam Malaysia and Friends of the Earth US. Collectively the coalition seeks to prevent financial institutions from facilitating environmental and social abuses common in forest risk commodities. It aims to achieve this through improved financial sector transparency, policies, systems and regulations.
Mission and focus areas
Forests & finance assesses the finance received by over hundreds of companies directly involved in soft and hard commodity supply chains, whose operations may impact natural tropical forests and the communities that rely on them in southeast asia, central and west africa, and parts of south america. The coalition seeks to improve financial sector transparency, policies, systems, and regulations to prevent financial institutions from facilitating systemic adverse Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) impacts that are all too common in the operations of many forest-risk commodity sector companies. Focus areas include the beef, soy, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber, and tropical timber (“forest-risk sector”) supply chains, as well as the role of mining in the climate crisis.
Structure and governance
The initiative is a coalition of eleven organisations, each with a defined role including research, campaigning, local mobilisation and engagement with the financial sector. Profundo is primarily responsible for the research carried out in Forests & Finance, including financial flows research and policy assessments. Rainforest Action Network is responsible for international campaigning, media outreach, website maintenance and building a grassroots network of local CSOs. Other coalition members like TuK Indonesia, Repórter Brasil, Amazon Watch, BankTrack, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Friends of the Earth US, Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement, Milieudefensie and Observatório da Mineração contribute specific regional expertise, case studies, capacity building and lobbying in their respective geographies.
Programs and offerings
The coalition publishes an open dataset covering financing to forest-risk sectors and policy assessments of the institutions behind it. This includes an assessment tool for financial flows and policy scores for banks and investors. The project assesses the financial services received by over 300 companies, utilizing financial databases, company reports, and register filings to identify corporate loans, underwriting facilities, and investments in bonds and shares. It also provides a blog with news, publications, and global reviews of financial jurisdictions and their restrictions on financing deforestation and ecosystem conversion.
Forests & finance assesses the finance received by over hundreds of companies directly involved in soft and hard commodity supply chains, whose operations may impact natural tropical forests and the communities that rely on them in southeast asia, central and west africa, and parts of south america.
