Capitalizing on Collapse

How top fossil fuel banks financing Amazon oil and gas profit at the cost of forest and community health, Indigenous rights, and a climate-safe future.

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Capitalizing on Collapse, the report authored by award-winning researchers at Stand.earth Research Group, details how JPMorgan Chase, Itaú Unibanco, Citibank, HSBC, Banco Santander, Bank of America, Banco Bradesco, and Goldman Sachs provided over $11 billion USD in financing to Amazon oil and gas activities over the past 15 years, from 2009 – 2023. These banks are responsible for 55% of the estimated $20 billion USD total that can be traced directly to the region, while making up just 5% of the banks in the database.

Case studies included in Capitalizing on Collapse illustrate how each of these top banks has been involved in deals that expand oil and gas production in the Amazon. The report also casts light on the banks that finance companies involved in Amazon oil and gas where the money is harder to trace – known as indirect financing. The report explores how opaqueness in financial data and weakness in bank environmental and social risk (ESR) policies can create conditions for financing to flow to fossil fuel production, even as banks make explicit climate, human rights, and biodiversity commitments.