October 26, 2026
New stocktake finds banks' nature commitments won't support UN targets
By Ola Janus, BankTrack
Voluntary commitments of major banks are far from what is necessary to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030
A new Stocktake by BankTrack finds that banks are not taking the necessary steps to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. The report, published today, analyses 30 major global financiers of forest-risk commodities against 21 criteria covering bank commitments, exclusion policies and approach to nature related risks.
Key findings include:
26 out of 30 banks have not yet committed to align with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) targets.
29 out of 30 banks have not yet developed a time-bound transition plan to reduce the negative impacts of their financing on nature.
One third of banks have no policies at all excluding finance for activities in biodiversity-rich areas.
Exclusion policies that banks do have in place are inconsistent and insufficient to align with the 30x30 target to conserve 30% of land, waters and seas by 2030.
The report sets important context for today’s “Finance Day” at the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) of the UN convention on biological diversity (CBD) in Armenia. The Stocktake report shows the gap between the transformative steps banks need to take to stop and reverse nature loss, and banks’ current ambitions. It shows how far banks are from being on a credible path to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.
Governments are explicitly looking to the private sector to help deliver the Global Biodiversity Framework’s finance target of $200 billion a year, agreed in Rome in 2025. In this context, the policies of commercial banks matter more than ever. However, the results of this Stocktake show that the great majority of banks lack the safeguards to ensure their funding contributes towards global goals rather than undermining them.
The stocktake indicates that overall, BNP Paribas, Rabobank, Standard Chartered and ING policies show more alignment with the GBF than other banks analysed. The finance for forest risk commodities has been decreasing for BNP Paribas and Rabobank, but both banks are still one of the top financiers and in 2025 alone provided almost 2 billion USD in credit and underwriting to forest risk companies.
Bank Central Asia, Bank of China, CITIC did not meet any criteria. Just above them were Deutsche Bank, Itaú Unibanco, MUFG, OCBC, Santander, SMBC, Westpac, Scotiabank, JP Morgan Chase, Maybank, ICBC, Citigroup, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank of America, Bank Mandiri, Banco Bradesco, Banco do Brasil receiving between 1 to 4 "yes" across all 21 categories. Barclays, CIMB, DBS, Crédit Agricole, HSBC and Mizuho received between 5 to 8 "yes".
As part of this report, BankTrack has developed an online interactive tool (see below) to show and compare comprehensive data on the bank policies. It displays 21 different criteria including bank commitments, exclusion policies and approach to nature related risks.
The financial system is a critical part of the equation, yet as this report demonstrates, banks are not closing this gap voluntarily. Major banks continue to maintain substantial financial exposure to sectors driving biodiversity loss, while their policies remain far from aligned with the scale of action required to meet global biodiversity goals by 2030. The successful implementation of the GBF depends on stronger financial regulation to ensure that financial institutions are actively redirecting capital from economic activities and sectors that actively destroy biodiversity.
“Most banks are busy developing shiny innovative financial instruments that will ensure they continue to profit from nature by turning it into a financial asset, all while profits from extraction continue to flow. If banks fail to stop their finance for dodgy agribusiness companies, they undermine the impact of every penny they put into nature protection”
Ola Janus, Banks and Nature Campaign Lead at BankTrack