Signal Global Witness: banks channeled $31 billion in sustainability-linked loans to deforestation-linked palm oil firms

Summary

Global Witness, an international environmental group, published a report finding that banks provided approximately 31 billion dollars in sustainability-linked loans between 2018 and 2025 to palm oil companies connected to deforestation and human rights violations. The report names over 100 lending banks including Barclays, HSBC, Credit Agricole, Rabobank, Bank of China and Standard Chartered. Companies receiving the loans include Wilmar International, Musim Mas, Apical, Bunge, COFCO, Louis Dreyfus, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Olam Group. Wilmar alone received 950 million dollars between 2018 and 2024, and Standard Chartered lent Wilmar 200 million dollars in 2023. The report links Wilmar's operations to roughly 4,200 hectares of primary forest loss despite the company's stated no-deforestation policy, and raises allegations of indigenous land seizure and corruption.