Skip to content
  • MyNewMarkets.com
  • Claims Journal
  • Insurance Journal TV
  • Academy of Insurance
  • Carrier Management
Insurance Journal - Property Casualty Industry News

Featured Stories

  • Farmers Data Breach Could Impact 1M+ Customers
  • ‘Big Four’ Reinsurers Maintain Property-Cat Appetite
  • Articles
  • Jobs
  • Markets

Current Magazine

current magazine
  • Read Online
  • Subscribe
  • Login
  • Front Page
    • National
    • International
    • Most Popular
    • Magazine
    • Forums
    • Blogs
    • Videos/Podcasts
    • Newsletters
  • News
    • Most Popular
    • National
    • International
    • East
    • Midwest
    • South Central
    • Southeast
    • West
  • Magazines
  • Research
  • Directories
  • Jobs
  • Features
    • Events
    • Forums
    • Market Directories
    • Quotes
    • Polls
    • Rankings & Awards
    • Insurance Giving Back
  • Subscribe

Banks, Insurers Targeted as Climate Group Seeks EU Review of Deforestation Rule

By Natasha White | February 28, 2024
Email This Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Article

Climate activists are putting pressure on the European Union to reconsider its decision to exclude banks from a landmark deforestation rule, in a move designed to preempt an official review of the regulation next year.

UK-based nonprofit Global Canopy says it was a mistake to allow the finance industry to fall outside the scope of the EU’s deforestation regulation. Given what the group characterizes as poor progress by banks and asset managers in tackling the issue, Global Canopy is lobbying the EU to include finance in its rules for protecting forests. The US and UK should consider similar rules, Global Canopy said.

“Financial institutions have the power to transform global supply chains, but voluntary action has failed,” said Emma Thomson, who leads the Forest 500 and deforestation projects at Global Canopy. “We need to see regulation.”

The nonprofit tracks 500 companies and financial firms that it has identified as playing a key role in the destruction of the world’s woodlands. While the destruction of forest accounts for roughly 10% of global carbon-dioxide emissions, Global Canopy’s research shows that the financial institutions assessed had over $6 trillion in finance outstanding to companies most exposed to deforestation, as of October 2022. And of those financial firms, 55% have no policy to address such risks. (Editor’s Note: Global Canopy tracks all financial services institutions, including insurers).

The call for more comprehensive rules follows a landmark agreement at the COP26 climate summit in 2021, at which the finance industry pledged to play its part in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The following year, roughly 200 countries committed in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to halt and reverse nature loss by the end of the decade.

Last year, the EU passed the world’s first deforestation due diligence law, and a pact to end deforestation by 2030 made it into a United Nations Conference of the Parties accord for the first time, at the COP28 summit in Dubai.

Now, explicit rules are needed to force banks to ensure their financing isn’t linked to deforestation, Global Canopy said.

“After a decade of being in the spotlight and numerous engagement attempts, it is remarkable that this group of highly exposed companies has failed to produce a single publicly available deforestation commitment,” Niki Mardas, the nonprofit’s executive director, said on Tuesday in connection with the group’s publication of its annual Forest 500 report. “There is no solution to climate change without ending deforestation.”

The destruction of the world’s forests represents “a huge crisis that has implications on the climate, on biodiversity and on people,” said Thomson. “As these companies and financial institutions continue to refuse to act, all of those impacts grow.”

Photograph: A section of deforestation near La Paz, Guaviare department, Colombia, on Sunday, July 30, 2023. Ivan Mordisco is a Colombian warlord with a cocaine empire and a bounty on his head. He is also doing more to protect the Amazon rainforest than almost anyone else on Earth. Photo credit: Ivan Valencia/Bloomberg

Related:

  • EU Agreement on ESG Ratings Seen as World’s Toughest
  • Banks, Insurers Temporarily Dodge Full Impact of EU’s Harshest ESG Law to Date
Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.

Topics Carriers Europe

Was this article valuable?

Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article.

Thank you! % of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it.

Here are more articles you may enjoy.

OpenAI, Altman Sued Over ChatGPT’s Role in Teen’s Suicide
Another HO Insurer, Viceroy, Approved for Florida Market, Regulators Say
Be Recognized as a Best Agency to Work For: Submit Now
Farmers Insurance Data Breach Could Impact More Than a Million Customers

Written By Natasha White

More From Author

Interested in Carriers?

Get automatic alerts for this topic.

Email This Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Categories: International & Reinsurance NewsTopics: Amazon deforestation, biodiversity, climate activists, Climate Change, Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, deforestation, environmental social and governance (ESG), environmental social and governance (ESG) criteria, EU ESG rules, EU financial services, EU insurer regulation, EU regulation, Global Canopy, global warming, Research and Trends
  • Have a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk@insurancejournal.com
More News
Peloton Must Face Shareholder Lawsuit Over Post-Pandemic Outlook
Ford to Recall Hundreds of Thousands of Vehicles Over Instrument Panel, Leak Issues
DeSantis Unleashes ‘Florida DOGE’ in Quest to Kill Property Taxes
TransUnion Says 4.4 Million Consumers’ Data Compromised in Hack
More News Features

Read This Next

  • Banks, Insurers Targeted as Climate Group Seeks EU Review of Deforestation Rule
  • Rural California Wine Country Fire Burning Out of Control
  • Update: Another Carrier, Vision Insurance Exchange, to Set Up Shop in Florida
  • New York Central Park Managers Support Eliminating Horse-Drawn Carriages
  • OpenAI, Altman Sued Over ChatGPT's Role in Teen's Suicide

Insurance Jobs

  • Sales Agent - Encino, California
  • Insurance Account Executive/Manager Wanted Flexible Hours, Potential Equity - Dix Hills/Deer Park, NY
  • Programs & Brokerage Manager - Magnolia, TX
  • Direct Sales Agent Specialist (2610) - Norfolk, VA
  • Account Executive/Underwriter – Professional Liability - Saint Paul, MN
MyNewMarkets
  • When Insurance Isn't the Optimal Risk Management Approach
  • Reputation Risk Can Overshadow Ransom in Cyberattacks, Aon Says
  • Tackling Cyber Risks: The Vital Role of Brokers in Third-Party Data Protection
  • DIY Home Inspections Are Taking Over, Firms Say
  • Six Things to Know About Umbrella Insurance
Claims Journal
  • Didi Pays $740 Million to Settle Lawsuit Over US IPO
  • 4.4 Million Consumers' Data Compromised in Hack, Transunion Says
  • FTC Sues LA Fitness for Making it Exceedingly Hard to Cancel Gym Memberships
  • EU Carmakers Warn Combustion Engine Ban Is No Longer Feasible
  • Peloton Must Face Shareholder Lawsuit Over Post-Pandemic Outlook
Academy of Insurance education
  • August 7 EPLI Basics
  • August 14 Managing and Insuring Reputational Risk
  • August 19 How To Write: Flood
  • August 21 Workers' Comp Crash Course

Insurance News

  • News by Region
  • News by Topic
  • Yesterday

Site Search

Features

  • Insurance Markets Directory
  • Forums
  • A.M. Best Company Ratings
  • Industry Events
  • Agencies For Sale
  • Newswire
  • Insurance Jobs
  • Rankings & Awards

Connect with us

  • Email Newsletters
  • Magazine Subscriptions
  • For Your Website
  • RSS Feeds
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Do Not Sell My Info

Insurance Journal

  • Submit News
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Reprints
  • Link to Us
  • Contact Us

Wells Media Group Network

  • Insurance Journal
  • MyNewMarkets.com
  • Claims Journal
  • Insurance Journal TV
  • Academy of Insurance
  • Carrier Management
© 2025 by Wells Media Group, Inc. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Site Map