Stand.earth report implicates banks in destroying the Amazon rainforest where land defenders are killed

Published by Brent Patterson on June 11, 2024

Stand.earth and the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) have released a new report titled GREENWASHING THE AMAZON: How Banks Are Destroying the Amazon Rainforest While Pretending to be Green.

The report highlights: “Major banks are claiming to protect the Amazon rainforest, Indigenous rights, and our climate, while they are simultaneously investing in destruction that is irreversible for one of the most strategic ecosystems for life on the planet. …Efforts to stop the devastation have been met with violence. An alarming number of leaders and land defenders have been killed while protecting Amazonia, which is currently the most violent region on the planet for Indigenous leaders and land defenders.”

The report focuses on five transnational banks Citibank (USA), JPMorgan Chase (USA), Itaú Unibanco (Brazil), Santander (Spain) and Bank of America (USA) that “together account for more than half of the loans to companies in this sector.”

Royal Bank of Canada, USD $1.2 billion over 15 years

The Stand.earth Amazon Banks Database further notes: “[The top 8] banks have profited from oil and gas despite the fact that the threat of an Amazon collapse has increased dramatically over the same time period.”

Number 7 on their list is RBC [the Royal Bank of Canada] with USD $1,163,458,000 in direct financing over the past fifteen years.

Frontera Energy in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador

The Stand.earth searchable database also shows numerous current bank bonds to the Canadian oil and gas company Calgary-based Frontera Energy from Citibank, Credit Suisse, Itau Unibanco, Morgan Stanley, BCP Securities LLC, Citibank, HSBC, Merrill Lynch & Co, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase.

Colombia

In December 2019, then UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst wrote: “In the context of efforts to defend land and environmental rights, at least 202 defenders have been prosecuted since 2012. By way of example, during the Special Rapporteur’s visit, eight leaders from San Luis de Palenque were arrested and accused of collusion to commit an offence, violence against a public servant and obstructing a public road, and two of them with attempted homicide in connection with their participation in and leadership of the social protests between 2016 and 2018 in response to the failure of Canadian public company Frontera Energy to fulfil its obligation to compensate communities affected by environmental damage and to repair damaged roads.”

His report then highlights: “The Special Rapporteur is concerned at the apparent connection between Frontera Energy, the army’s 16th brigade and the Attorney General’s Support Office in this criminalization and the possible impact of the agreement between Ecopetrol S.A. and the Attorney General’s Office on the situation.”

Forst then explains: “In November 2018, Frontera Energy signed two agreements with the Ministry of Defence for a total of US$ 1,343,106 to secure army protection for its activities. On 4 December 2018, the army and the police accused the aforementioned leaders of being members of ‘Los Jinetes con Careta’, an illegal armed group whose existence has yet to be recognized by the competent authorities. Furthermore, since 2015, Ecopetrol, the main Colombian hydrocarbon exploitation company, has signed five cooperation agreements with the Attorney General’s Office for a total of US$ 24,698,485 to strengthen the investigative and prosecutorial capacity of the Attorney General’s Support Office to deal – inter alia – with crimes of obstruction of public roads during social protests that affect the functioning of Ecopetrol and/or its associated companies, such as Frontera Energy.”

Since the arrest of the social leaders on November 27, 2018, and Forst’s report on December 26, 2019, bonds were issued to Frontera by Citibank, Credit Suisse, Itau Unibanco, Morgan Stanley, and BCP Securities LLP.

The Amazonia region in Colombia includes the departments of Amazonas, Caquetá, Guainía, Guaviare, Putumayo and Vaupés. The department of Casanare is situated north of Caquetá, Guainía and Guaviare.

Peru

Frontera Energy has also been implicated for its past business practices in Peru. In the report CANADA’S FAILURE TO UPHOLD EXTRATERRITORIAL OBLIGATIONS: CORPORATE ABUSES BY CANADIAN COMPANIES IN THE AMAZON RAINFOREST, a case study focuses on Frontera Energy in Peru.

The Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada has reported that the submission names: “Frontera Energy Corp. in northern Peru, which, The Globe has [previously] reported, incurred 33 environmental fines related to oil spills in the time it operated there [2015 to February 2021]. In response to questions, Frontera said it is honouring its contractual commitments and will continue to comply with its outstanding social and environmental obligations.”

Photo: “Natanael Sandi’s job as an environmental monitor is to track and report the oil contamination. On this excursion in December, 2022, he stops by Frontera’s abandoned offices [in an area known as Block 192 in Peru].” Photo by Patrick Murayari.

Ecuador

There may also be concern about Frontera’s present and future operations in Ecuador. In March 2022, Oil & Gas Journal reported: “Frontera Energy Corp. discovered oil on the southern portion of the Perico block in Ecuador. …Frontera holds about 16,700 net acres in the Perico and Espejo exploration blocks in Ecuador. The blocks lie near existing production and infrastructure in Sucumbíos Province [that is part of the Amazonian region in Ecuador].”

We continue to follow this.