09/23/2021: In its report, ShareAction concludes that the financial sector has been slow to make progress on biodiversity – only 10 out of 25 banks surveyed have a biodiversity policy. Leading the way is Rabobank, which has strict biodiversity and deforestation criteria in its policy.
Two of the banks studied use the drivers of biodiversity loss defined by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) as a framework for their biodiversity approach. However, all banks studied show weak commitments when it comes to mitigating deforestation. Many banks had signed up to the Soft Commodities Compact, which aimed to reduce deforestation to net zero by 2020, but have not met their targets. ShareAction concludes that no bank currently has a political commitment to a zero-transformation or zero-deforestation approach.
Author: GNF
Download the report by ShareAction