DÉFORESTATION EN AMAZONIE : LA COMPLICITÉ DES BANQUES FRANÇAISES

The report reveals that BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, and BPCE provided $10 billion in financing to Bunge and Cargill between January 2024 and September 2025, despite the traders' exposure to deforestation risks in Brazil. Analysis shows that Bunge and Cargill are linked to 11,800 hectares of deforestation in the Amazon and 91,000 hectares in the Cerrado during this period. The document criticizes the deforestation policies of the involved banks as insufficient, lacking clear objectives, and opaque in their implementation.

• Between January 2024 and September 2025, four major French banks—BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, and BPCE—participated in five financial transactions totaling $10 billion for Bunge and Cargill.
• Analysis of satellite data identifies a significant risk of soy-related deforestation associated with Bunge and Cargill in Brazil from January 2024 to October 2025, totaling 102,800 hectares across two biomes: 11,800 hectares in the Amazon and 91,000 hectares in the Cerrado.
• The deforestation in the Amazon is heavily concentrated in the state of Mato Grosso, specifically within the municipality of São José do Xingu.
• Field investigations at Fazenda Macaré in Querencia, Mato Grosso, documented the replacement of tropical forests with soy fields and reported that local farmers and indigenous groups suffer from aggressive aerial pesticide spraying and forest fires.
• The Amazon Soy Moratorium, established in 2006 to prohibit soy from lands deforested after July 24, 2008, is currently threatened by agribusiness pressure and fails to cover the Cerrado biome.
• The deforestation policies of BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, and Société Générale are deemed insufficient because they lack clear objectives to eliminate financing for activities linked to deforestation and ecosystem conversion.
• Among the four banks, BPCE is the only one that has not yet adopted a formal policy on deforestation, though it has committed to doing so by the end of 2025.
• French banks exhibit a total lack of transparency regarding their exposure to deforestation risks, failing to disclose the number of at-risk companies in their portfolios or the specific amounts financed.
• The report argues that the term 'zero deforestation' is often used vaguely by companies and banks, and that certification systems like the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) are insufficient to guarantee full traceability.

APA

Reclaim Finance (n.d.). DÉFORESTATION EN AMAZONIE : LA COMPLICITÉ DES BANQUES FRANÇAISES. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DEFORESTATION-EN-AMAZONIE_-LA-COMPLICITE-DES-BANQUES-FRANCAISES.pdf

Chicago

Reclaim Finance. DÉFORESTATION EN AMAZONIE : LA COMPLICITÉ DES BANQUES FRANÇAISES. n.d. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DEFORESTATION-EN-AMAZONIE_-LA-COMPLICITE-DES-BANQUES-FRANCAISES.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Reclaim Finance |title=DÉFORESTATION EN AMAZONIE : LA COMPLICITÉ DES BANQUES FRANÇAISES |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DEFORESTATION-EN-AMAZONIE_-LA-COMPLICITE-DES-BANQUES-FRANCAISES.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reclaimfinancenddforestation, author = {{Reclaim Finance}}, title = {{DÉFORESTATION EN AMAZONIE : LA COMPLICITÉ DES BANQUES FRANÇAISES}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DEFORESTATION-EN-AMAZONIE_-LA-COMPLICITE-DES-BANQUES-FRANCAISES.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }