Archived press release

High street banks financing biofuel destruction in Latin America

19 May 2008

Friends of the Earth joins UN call for banks to stop fuelling harmful biofuel boom

UK banks are funding rapid expansion of biofuel production in Latin America, leading to large scale deforestation, human rights abuses and rising food prices, a new Friends of the Earth report reveals today.

The new research documents how major UK banks, such as Barclays and HSBC, are investing billions of pounds in biofuels companies one of which is working conditions have been classed as slave labour by the Brazilian Labour Ministry. Barclays and HSBC both give significant credit to Cargill, a biofuel producing company that has been convicted of illegal activities in Latin America.

Kenneth Richter, Friends of the Earth Biofuels campaigner, said:

Biofuels mean big bucks for banks while the food crisis they are creating is leaving hundreds of millions of people starving and vital natural habitats destroyed. Friends of the Earth is joining the UN in calling for banks to immediately ditch their investments in harmful biofuel development.

Friends of the Earth is calling on the EU to scrap its plans for a 10% biofuel target by 2020. Biofuels are being touted as a solution to climate change but growing scientific evidence shows that they are doing more harm than good and can increase greenhouse gas emissions through large-scale rainforest clearance.

Notes

1. The full report European financing of agrofuel production in Latin America(PDF€ )

2. Biofuels have been blamed by the UN and the World Bank for driving up food prices, leaving over a 100 million people in severe hunger. New United Nations special adviser on food Olivier de Schutter has said:

   "The ambitious goals for biofuel production set by the United States and the European Union are irresponsible. I am calling for a freeze on all investment in this sector."

   The biofuel rush was, he argued, a "scandal that only serves the interests of a tiny lobby".

3. In March 2007, the Supreme Court in Brazil judged that Cargill operated illegally while constructing a terminal on the banks of the Tapajos River to facilitate exports of soy beans without proper Environmental Impact Assessment. Fact sheet (PDF€ )

4. "Two soy producing fazendas (Cosmos and Ribeiro) have been fined by the Brazilian labour ministry for slavery (process numbers quoted in Funaguas report). In addition, child labour The harvesting of fuelwood on the fazenda Grana is also occurring under slavery-like conditions (Funaguas report and Bickel, Bickel and Dros)" Fact sheet (PDF€ )

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust