New Report Finds Europe’s Financiers are Fueling a Dirty Supply Chain for Transition Minerals

As Europe accelerates its transition toward renewable energy, demand for raw minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper is fueling human right abuses and environmental harm  

A new report by Oxfam, Fair Finance International, and 11.11.11, “Financing Critical Minerals but Failing Critical Safeguards”  highlights the role of Europe’s financial institutions. The report shows that Europe’s largest banks and investors are channeling billions into mining companies tied to land conflicts, pollution, and human rights violations, all while the EU has weakened its sustainability safeguards. 

A Look at Europe’s Financiers

Between 2016 and 2024, European financial institutions issued over €64 billion in credit and underwriting, while investors held an additional €15 billion in shares and bonds in companies mining critical raw minerals.
The report analysed eight of the largest EU financiers investing in critical minerals: ABP (Dutch pension fund), Allianz (German investor and insurance company), BBVA (Spanish bank), BNP Paribas (French bank),  Crédit Agricole (French bank), Deutsche Bank (German bank), ING (Dutch bank), Santander (Spanish bank). They were assessed on their human rights and environmental policies and the results showed that most institutions failed to meet even basic expectations for responsible finance and the highest score was just 4.0 out of 10. 

They were assessed on their human rights and environmental policies and the results showed that most institutions t failed to meet even basic expectations for responsible finance and the highest score was just 4.0 out of 10. 

You can explore the detailed policy assessments on our site, which outline each institution’s commitments and gaps. The full list of Forests & Finance mining policy assessments for global banks and investors is available here. 

The report links European finance to harmful mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Peru, Mozambique, and Brazil, each marked by serious social and environmental concerns. 

• In the DRC, residents near the Kamoa-Kakula copper and cobalt mine reported land loss, polluted water and violent suppression of protests. 
• In Peru, copper mining in Espinar has poisoned air and waterways and continues to divide communities. 
• In Mozambique, graphite for electric vehicle batteries displaced families without proper compensation. 
• In Brazil, “green” lithium operations diverted community water sources and worsened respiratory illness from dust pollution. 

These examples showcase a pattern of the same financial institutions promoting sustainability in Europe are underwriting exploitation abroad. 

Policy Regression in Brussels

This report comes out at a decisive time, as the EU moves to scale back key sustainability rules, including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) through its Omnibus proposals. These rollbacks will weaken the policy tools used to hold European financial institutions accountable for the damage they cause overseas. 

What Needs to Change

The report calls on the EU and the financial sector to: 

• Strengthen, not dilute, sustainability and due diligence obligations. 
• Require banks and investors to identify, prevent and respond to human rights and environmental risks. 
• Enforce Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for affected communities before any mining begins. 

There must be a stronger desire within the EU for a just energy transition, one which delivers equitable outcomes and protections for the communities and environments from which these raw materials are being extracted. Responsible finance must be the foundation of any transition away from fossil fuels.