Under the spotlight: Chinese banks' risky agribusiness portfolio

Between January 2013 and April 2020, Chinese financial institutions provided over $22.5 billion USD to companies producing and trading commodities at high risk of driving deforestation. The report highlights that a small number of major commercial banks dominate this financing, often with inadequate due diligence or safeguarding policies. Specific examples include financing for COFCO, which continues to use suppliers suspended by Unilever, and JBS, which has been linked to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The report argues that China's banking regulator should revise commercial banking laws to mandate the exclusion of companies linked to environmental destruction to align with China's 2060 carbon neutrality goal.

• Chinese banks and investors provided more than $22.5 billion USD in loans and underwriting from January 2013 to April 2020 to companies trading forest-risk commodities, including pulp and paper, rubber, timber, palm oil, soy, and beef.
• China is the sixth largest global financier for forest-risk commodities overall, but ranks as the second largest worldwide if financiers based in producer countries are excluded, trailing only Japan.
• A small group of commercial banks provides the bulk of this funding; 67% of Chinese financing came from commercial banks, and just five of the largest banks provided $10.25 billion USD, representing 45% of all Chinese financial institution funding in this sector.
• The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China are the largest individual financiers, providing $3.66 billion USD and $2.91 billion USD respectively; both received the lowest possible score of 0 out of 100 in the 2020 Forest 500 assessment of deforestation policies.
• In the palm oil sector, Chinese banks provided $3.2 billion USD between January 2013 and April 2020, with $2.1 billion USD going to COFCO. Despite a supplier code of conduct, COFCO was found in 2019 to still list 77 processing facilities as suppliers that had been suspended by Unilever for non-compliance.
• Chinese financing is linked to deforestation in Brazil via soy and beef operations. The five companies receiving the most Chinese financing for these sectors—COFCO, Cargill, Bunge, ADM, and LDC—were all found by Mighty Earth to be exposed to deforestation, linked to 161,018 hectares of forest clearance since October 2017.
• China Construction Bank provided funds to JBS, the world's largest meat producer, despite JBS's record of buying cattle from at least 327 ranches in the Amazon where deforestation occurred between 2017 and 2019.

APA

Global Witness (n.d.). Under the spotlight: Chinese banks' risky agribusiness portfolio. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/under-the-spotlight-chinese-banks-risky-agribusiness-portfolio/

Chicago

Global Witness. Under the spotlight: Chinese banks' risky agribusiness portfolio. n.d. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/under-the-spotlight-chinese-banks-risky-agribusiness-portfolio/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Witness |title=Under the spotlight: Chinese banks' risky agribusiness portfolio |url=https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/under-the-spotlight-chinese-banks-risky-agribusiness-portfolio/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalwitnessndunder, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Under the spotlight: Chinese banks' risky agribusiness portfolio}}, institution = {Global Witness}, url = {https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/under-the-spotlight-chinese-banks-risky-agribusiness-portfolio/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }