🧵 Revealed: Our @Global_Witness analysis has found the Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have bought millions of dollars in bonds issued by companies linked to deforestation and land-grabbing w/@noeL_maS in @guardian.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
🟢 The US Federal Reserve alone bought $16 million in bonds issued by the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM), Bunge Ltd Financial Corp and Cargill, Inc.
🟢 The Bank of England has invested in an undisclosed fraction of a £150 million Cargill bond.
Why does this matter? 👇🏽
ADM, Bunge and Cargill are three of the biggest agri-business conglomerates operating in Brazil, at a time when deforestation has hit a record high for the first seven months of the year, under the country's far-right President, Jair Bolsonaro.
reuters.com/business/envir…
In 2021, a @Global_Witness investigation found that ADM, Bunge and Cargill fuelled human rights abuses by purchasing from soy suppliers in conflict with traditional communities in Brazil's Bahia state.
globalwitness.org/en/press-relea…
In response:
🟢 The Fed said it had adopted the policy as a one-off measure in 2020 to save jobs during the pandemic, and had no plans to do so again.
🟢 The BoE said it had taken measures to lower borrowing costs for all firms and to highlight the support given to Cargill...
... was “an extremely narrow focus”.
🟢 The ECB said it “aims to gradually decarbonise its corporate bond holdings, on a path aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement...”
However, all this comes despite repeated public statements from all three central banks stressing the risks that climate change poses to financial stability and long-term economic growth.
The refusal of UK and EU banks to publish the values of their holdings in the companies also creates a lack of transparency.
🟢 Cargill said it was “committed to ending deforestation and conversion in our agricultural supply chains”
🟢 Bunge said it was “committed to complying with all regulations either in local or global markets and to adhering to our own strict social-environmental policies”
🟢 ADM did not respond to requests for comment. For more details on the companies' responses to allegations, see below 👇🏽
.@NVJRobins1 of @GRI_LSE: “I think this report is a very useful piece of analysis which highlights the need for central banks to look at their exposure to deforestation in their portfolios”
You can read our full @Global_Witness report here:
globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/f…
A special thank you to those whose expertise has helped inform my background research @katie_kedward of @IIPP_UCL, @lukasz_krebel of @NEF and @SunriseProjKS.
Thank you also to @AdamMcGibbon and @MiaHWatanabe for shared learnings around the links between deforestation and fossil fuel financing.
Companies will continue to enable deforestation if they can get the financial backing to make it profitable and banks will not stop financing deforestation unless they are compelled to, my colleague @giuliabond writes in the @NewStatesman.
newstatesman.com/spotlight/2022…
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