Vale is a negative highlight in a study on predatory investments in ‘clean energy’

Original post made by Reporter Brasil.

Released this Wednesday (3) by the Forests and Finance Coalition, the report points out that banks and investors fuel violent and exploitative practices in the name of the energy transition; Brazilian Vale ranked fifth in the global ranking of mining companies benefiting, despite a history of socio-environmental violations

The production of energy transition metals , such as cobalt, nickel, lithium , and copper, is causing serious socio-environmental impacts, with the incentive of financing that moves billions of dollars. This is according to a study released this Wednesday (3) by Forest and Finance , a coalition of organizations that globally monitors money flows to companies that put the planet’s forests at risk. Repórter Brasil is part of the coalition.

The report “Mining and Money: Financial Failures in the Energy Transition” ( available only in English ) warns that the “race” for clean energy sources is fueling deforestation, land grabbing, pollution, contamination, and violence against traditional peoples. This process also repeats “the same violent, exploitative, and unsustainable practices that defined the fossil fuel era,” the report states.

The study mapped 130 mining companies that produce ten minerals classified as transitional (aluminum, chromium, cobalt, copper, graphite, iron, lithium, manganese, nickel and zinc) and the banks and investors that finance these companies. 

The report identified American banks JPMorganChase and Bank of America as the largest lenders to transition minerals mining companies, a sector classified by the study as “notoriously high-risk.” On the investment side, BlackRock and Vanguard, also from the United States, lead in volume of bonds and shares in companies in the sector.

Between 2016 and 2024, the study shows, banks worldwide injected a total of US$493 billion into loans and bond issuances for companies in the sector. Investors held US$289 billion in shares and bonds of these companies as of June 2025. Of the total amount invested by banks, 53% went to just 10 companies in the sector, such as Brazil’s Vale.

Vale: sum of disasters

The Brazilian mining company is among the top companies listed in the study, both for the volume of funds received and its history of violations.

The report highlights the ruptures of two dams linked to the company.

The first occurred in November 2015 at the Fundão dam in Mariana, Minas Gerais . The dam collapse, owned by the mining company Samarco, controlled by Vale and the Australian company BHP, killed 19 people and is considered the worst environmental tragedy in Brazil’s history. The second, in January 2019, was the collapse of a Vale dam in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais , killing 272 people and leaving 11 missing. The report highlights that the incident “remains one of the deadliest industrial disasters of the 21st century.”

The study also mentions that the mining company was fined for failing to comply with a state law that set a legal deadline for the closure of its most dangerous dams in Minas Gerais, now postponed to 2035. “Communities remain at risk, as 20 of Vale’s tailings dams are considered at high risk of failure,” adds another section of the study.

The study also describes Vale’s operations in Pará. Operations at the Onça Puma nickel mine, operated by a Vale subsidiary in the Serra dos Carajás region in the southeast of the state, are suspected of contaminating the Cateté River , a watercourse that flows through the Xikrin do Rio Cateté Indigenous Territory, with heavy metals. 

In February of this year, the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) of Pará filed a public civil action against the mining company , the Union and the state of Pará, for the contamination of indigenous people by heavy metals. 

In a response sent to Repórter Brasil , Vale claims that expert reports indicate that the Onça Puma Mine is not a source of contamination in the Cateté River and highlights that other polluting activities occur in the region, such as illegal mining and the use of agricultural pesticides. The mining company also maintains that the new public civil action against the project does not alter the legitimacy of the operation or the control mechanisms already in place, such as its program for monitoring the conditions of surface water and effluents associated with the Onça Puma operation.

Regarding the repairs for the Brumadinho and Mariana disasters, Vale claims to have fulfilled 78% of the estimated R$37.7 billion in the Brumadinho Comprehensive Reparation Agreement and has already paid R$4 billion in individual compensation since 2019. “At least one family member of each employee, whether direct or outsourced, who was a victim of the dam collapse has already reached a compensation agreement,” Vale notes. Regarding Mariana, the mining company emphasized its role as a Samarco shareholder and that it is “committed to fully repairing the impacts caused by the dam collapse.” This commitment, Vale states, is reflected in the Reparation Agreement, approved by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in November 2024.

The company also claimed to have eliminated 17 of the 30 upstream dams planned for its decommissioning program, which began in 2019. Vale claims that the original deadline established by Minas Gerais state law “was considered technically unfeasible, not only for Vale but for several companies.” In 2022, the mining company claims, Vale and other companies signed a Commitment Agreement with the State of Minas Gerais, regulatory agencies, and the State and Federal Public Prosecutors’ Offices that established a new decommissioning schedule, with completion scheduled for 2035. “The Agreement also stipulates that the signatory companies must pay established amounts to be converted into socio-environmental expenditure projects – therefore, it is not a fine,” the company points out.

Read Vale’s responses in full here .

Billions invested after Brumadinho

Among the 130 companies mapped, Vale was the fifth most financed between 2016 and 2024, receiving US$23.3 billion from banks. Of this total, US$15.8 billion was allocated to operations in Brazil.

“When we analyzed the financing issued between 2016 and 2024, we found that 65% came after the second dam collapse in 2019,” Stephanie Dowlen of the Rainforest Action Network, an organization that is part of the Forest and Finance Coalition, explained to Repórter Brasil . “Bank of America, Vale’s largest creditor during this period, provided US$1.1 billion in 2020. Bradesco was another bank that increased its financing after Brumadinho, offering US$334 million in 2020,” Dowlen explains.

The study also indicates that investors held US$27 billion in Vale bonds and shares as of June 2025, another source of funding for the company. Caixa Econômica Federal and BlackRock, the world’s largest investment manager, held the largest stake: US$3.1 billion and US$2.9 billion in bonds and shares, respectively. 

According to the study, “financiers are complicit in the damage caused by Vale” and must strengthen their due diligence mechanisms – the process of identifying, preventing, mitigating, and responding to socio-environmental damage and violations they have caused or contributed to – in addition to adopting exclusion criteria for companies that are repeat offenders.

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Bradesco, Caixa, BlackRock, and Vanguard were also contacted, but had not responded by the time this report was published. The space remains open for future comments.

Insufficient or non-existent policies

The study evaluated the socio-environmental policies of 30 financial institutions regarding financing for transition mineral mining. Thirty-four criteria were analyzed, divided into four categories: environmental, social, institutional governance, and corporate governance. Each criterion was scored from 0 to 10, converted into percentages for comparison.

The overall average score of the institutions was just 22%, the study points out.

Environmental protection measures were the weakest point, with an average score of 17%. Only 13% of the institutions evaluated had clear zero-deforestation policies, none required their clients to manage risks related to tailings storage, and only 10% adopted reliable guidelines, according to the study, for mine closure or reclamation, with a focus on environmental protection.

“We know there are gaps in financial regulation that allow banks and investors to prioritize profit over human rights, the environment, and corporate responsibility. These gaps, combined with the ‘green,’ ‘clean,’ or ‘renewable’ labels attributed to transition minerals, are exacerbating long-standing problems in the sector,” concludes Dowlen.

Editor’s Note: The text was changed on September 4th, at 9:40 am, to include the statement sent by mining company Vale.