130 Banks Just Launched the Principles for Responsible Banking: Will Banks Finally Change for the Better?

Posted October 9, 2019 in The Understory

130 banks including Citi and MUFG (parent of Union Bank) just committed to align their financing with the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. Wow. Does that mean they are going to totally transform their financing for the better and stop financing deforestation, fossil fuels, and human rights violations? If not, this is going to be just one more greenwashing exercise…

Action in front of the BNP Paribas New York branch where the Principles for Responsible Banking sessions were held (September 23, 2019)

Stop the Olympics from destroying the rainforests

Posted November 13, 2018 in The Understory

RAN and our partners — TuK Indonesia and WALHI — have been investigating a giant logging and palm oil company called Korindo, which has been cutting down rainforests in Indonesia. Korindo’s timber supply chain extends into some of the most biodiverse tropical ecosystems in the world, including the home of the critically endangered Bornean orangutan.

INVESTIGATIVE REPORT: Rainforest defenders, torture and banks

Posted November 12, 2018 in The Understory

What do human rights abuses, 2020 Olympics and banks have in common? Wrongfully arrested and tortured by police for defending their own land… These are just a couple of the unimaginable human tragedies we’ve discovered in the rainforests of North Maluku, Indonesia.

Broken Promises

Posted November 11, 2018 in Publications

Olympic authorities have violated their pledge to host a sustainable Olympics in 2020. Our joint investigation found Korindo wood used in the construction of Olympic venues from the same mill linked to destruction of orangutan habitat and large-scale conversion of tropical rainforests.