Amazon under threat
- Details
- Published on Monday, 14 September 2020 08:50
- Written by editor
Last month, our team released a bombshell report calling out six major European banks for funding the destruction of the Amazon Sacred Headwaters by financing crude oil exports from the Ecuadorian rainforest.
Since the report’s release and the global media outcry that followed (with nearly 300 news stories and counting), five of the six banks named in the report have come to the negotiating table – and we are hopeful that one of them, Rabobank, will make their recent commitment to stop all trade financing of Amazon crude oil permanent. This is a great start (huge really!), but it’s not enough. Will you help us keep the pressure up during this crucial moment and turn the bank’s words into real, lasting commitments?
DONATE TO PROTECT THE AMAZONWith your help, we can make sure ING, Credit Suisse, Natixis, BNP Paribas, and UBS executives get a continual flood of media questions and comments from people like you until they commit to stop financing Amazon crude oil exports.
If we raise $10,000, we’ll be able to launch a powerful digital campaign so that bank employees can’t run a Google search, check their LinkedIn accounts, open their email inboxes, or listen to their voicemails without being faced with our campaign demands.
This spring, the Ecuadorian Amazon region was hit by one of the worst oil spills in over a decade. As 15,800 barrels of crude oil spilled out from ruptured pipelines, over 120,000 Ecuadorians found their rivers running thick with oil and their only source of food and water polluted – all amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regional Indigenous federations and local communities are calling for an immediate conditional moratorium and an end to expansion of all oil production in their rainforest territories. So why are ING, Credit Suisse, Natixis, BNP Paribas, and UBS still financing the flow of crude oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon, despite their policies on human rights, sustainability, and climate change?
The goal of our landmark report, released with our friends at Amazon Watch, was to shine a spotlight on top European banks’ complicity in hastening the destruction of a sacred, pristine, and threatened ecosystem. Now we need to secure commitments from all six banks to immediately stop financing crude oil trade from the Amazon.
Thank you for being part of the Stand.earth community. Going after big financial institutions may seem like a monumental task, but challenges like this are what we were born to do. Together, we’ve helped protect millions acres of forests that people thought couldn’t be saved. We’ve gone up against multinational oil, gas, and coal companies worth billions of dollars and come out victorious, blocking dozens of their projects that would have poisoned local communities and accelerated the climate crisis.
Our team may be fewer than 50 people, but our online community is over 430,000 strong and growing by the day. Already since we launched this report, more than 17,000 people have added their names to the call to banks to stop financing Amazon crude oil trade. Together, we’re transforming entire industries – and now it’s time to transform how the banking industry finances oil trade.
In solidarity and with appreciation,
Alicia Guzman
Senior Amazon Adviser
Stand.earth
Stand.earth challenges corporations, industries, and governments to prioritize the well-being of people, our environment, and our climate by creating long-term, effective solutions. None of this work is possible without your support.
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