Banks lend nearly $600 billion to firms posing threats to tropical forests, environmental groups say

SINGAPORE, Oct 15 (Reuters) — Banks have lent as much as $595 billion since 2020 to companies that contribute to tropical deforestation and ecosystem destruction, research commissioned by a coalition of environmental groups showed on Wednesday. The Forests & Finance coalition said in its annual Banking on Biodiversity Collapse report that banks lent a total of $351 billion to "high-risk" agricultural commodity firms and another $244 billion to mining companies from 2020 to 2025. "These sectors are the primary drivers of deforestation, land degradation and community conflict across the tropical forest basins of South America, Southeast Asia and Central and West Africa," it said. Banks "issuing the most high-risk credit still do not have adequate safeguards to mitigate the risks of serious environmental and social harm," it said. Annual lending and underwriting to mining companies operating in tropical-forest-rich countries rose 55% between 2016 and 2025, from $23.7 billion to $36.7 billion, with the biggest increases in lithium and nickel financing. Annual forest-risk financing for agricultural commodities has also accelerated by 71% since 2016, from $37.9 billion to $64.7 billion,