JPMorgan, Citi under fire for funding fossil fuels in the Amazon

investmentnews.com:

As the Amazon may face a catastrophic tipping point that’s eroding its status as a major carbon sink, a new study maps out which banks have pumped the most money into oil and gas extraction from the world’s largest rainforest.

An analysis by Stand.earth, a nonprofit with offices in Canada and the US, lists JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. as the two banks that have dominated financial backing to fossil fuels in the Amazon basin over the past 15 years. In all, JPMorgan and Citigroup were behind $3.8 billion in loans and bonds for oil and gas production and infrastructure, according to Stand.earth.

Since 2009, a total of 160 banks have channeled $20 billion in direct funding to oil and gas in the Amazon, the analysis found. Those activities have contributed to pollution and deforestation which, along with drought and fires, have pushed the Amazon close to passing a “tipping point” that may turn rainforests into grasslands within a few decades, according to climate scientists. 

“Banks have a critical role to play in shifting the energy economics behind the climate crisis,” said Angeline Robertson, lead researcher at Stand.earth. “We continue to see financing for the expansion of oil and gas in the world’s biggest rainforest.”

A spokesperson for Citigroup said the bank “continues to strengthen” its environmental and social risk management policy to protect sensitive areas like the Amazon. JPMorgan declined to comment.

In 2021, scientists found that parts of the Amazon had begun to emit more CO2 than they absorb, turning them from a carbon sink to a source. That means the Amazon may start contributing more greenhouse gases to the environment than it removes, exacerbating the climate crisis. 

The fallout from global