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Davos: Indigenous Leaders Call on Banks to Stop Funding Amazon Oil Expansion

Scientists and international organizations also calling for banks to follow lead of BNP Paribas and align with the Exit Amazon Oil and Gas platform

On the heels of World Biodiversity Day and in connection to an upcoming panel on the Amazon at Davos, tipping point scientists, Indigenous leaders, and international organizations are calling on banks and financial institutions that have gathered for the World Economic Forum in Davos to end financing for oil expansion in the Amazon.

Community Protest Saturday at Chevron Richmond Refinery on 9th Annual Global Anti-Chevron Day

Saturday, May 21, 2022, is the 9th annual Global Anti-Chevron Day. Communities in Richmond, CA affected by Chevron will join other communities around the world to share their stories about the impact of the oil company’s environmental destruction and human rights violations in advance of Chevron’s annual shareholder’s meeting on May 25, when the...

Science Group, Community Leaders, and Shareholder Advocates Discuss Chevron's Track Record on Financial Risk

Leaders share insights and guidance on how shareholder actions advance corporate accountability, ahead of Chevron annual stockholder meeting

In advance of Chevron’s Annual General Meeting of shareholders,scheduled for May 25, community advocates, shareholder groups, and corporate accountability experts held an online briefing for investors, the public, and the media.

GeoPark Oil Company (GPRK) a High-Risk Investment, Report by Human Rights and Environmental Organization Details

Risk alert based on recent field mission outlines the social, political, legal, environmental, and reputational risks for GeoPark’s operations in the Colombian and Ecuadorian Amazon

GeoPark's current attempts to expand operations into the Colombian and Ecuadorian Amazon are creating serious human rights and environmental challenges for the company and risks for investors, Amazon Watch detailed in a 19-page risk alert published today, coinciding with GeoPark’s quarterly earnings call for investors.

Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.

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Statement on BNP Paribas Pledge to End New Financing for Amazon Oil Drilling

Bank involved in industry deals worth $13.3 billion. Move follows investigation by Stand.earth and Amazon Watch pushing firm to take a lead role in excluding Amazon oil and gas.

“BNP Paribas’ decision to stop financing new oil production in the Amazon is the first of its kind and a major milestone for us as Indigenous peoples. This decision affirms what we have been calling for – that financing oil extraction in the Amazon is putting our lives, lands, and cultures at risk, and the health of our entire planet, and must...

Four Ways Wall Street’s Annual General Meetings Impact the Amazon

During AGM season, consumers and shareholders can pressure corporations to change policies to respond to the climate and guarantee respect for human rights

We’re in the middle of the AGM season, which means corporations and financial institutions – including many complicit in Amazon destruction – will gather investors to discuss key business strategies and annual performance. Amazon Watch has historically strategized around these meetings to pressure them and demand accountability.

Frontline Leaders Call on BlackRock and Vanguard to Adopt Indigenous Rights and Deforestation Policy

BlackRock and Vanguard have opportunity to implement concrete climate policy addressing land rights, deforestation, and human rights abuses in portfolios

“The destruction of the Amazon rainforest is a threat to humanity and to the natural systems on which it depends. Indigenous Peoples are the best protectors of the Amazon, and we will continue to defend our rights and our territories from the extractive industries and threaten Indigenous Peoples and the rainforest.”

Citigroup AGM: Bank Called Out for Amazon Oil Financing

Report shows bank’s role in funding oil companies with ties to corruption, rights violations, pollution, and deforestation in the Amazon. Indigenous leaders, alongside human rights and environmental campaigners, calling for Citigroup to exit Amazon oil and gas.

“Oil drilling in our Amazon has brought contamination, disease, deforestation, destruction of our cultures, and the colonization of our territories. It is an existential threat for us and violates our fundamental rights as Indigenous peoples. We are calling for an end to all new extraction on our lands, and as our ancestors and science now affirm...

Steven Donziger Is Finally Free. Onward Toward Justice for the People of Ecuador!

Today, human rights lawyer Steven Donziger woke up free, marking the closure of the latest chapter in Chevron’s scheme to evade justice for its toxic dumping in Ecuador. Now all eyes turn back to the true crime – Chevron’s contamination from 1964-1992 in Ecuador and the company’s efforts to escape accountability.

Environmental Lawyer Targeted by Chevron Freed After More Than Two Years Under House Arrest

Steven Donziger represented Ecuadorians in a pollution lawsuit against Chevron. Then he ended up in the oil giant's crosshairs.

Gizmodo | After 993 days, Steven Donziger is finally free. On Monday, the embattled lawyer, who has been targeted by Chevron for years in a Kafka-esque court struggle, finished a six-month sentence, which came on the heels of more than two years under house arrest.

Stand.earth and Amazon Watch Deploy 75-foot Banner Demanding Gavin Newsom End Amazon Destruction

Massive banner drop in Sacramento spotlights California and Amazon oil connection and calls on Governor Newsom to take action

Sacramento, CA — Today, activists from Stand.earth and Amazon Watch deployed a 75-foot banner from Sacramento’s iconic Tower Bridge to demand California governor Gavin Newsom stand up to Big Oil and end California’s role in the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest. 

Petroperú’s Ongoing Threat to the Amazon

Intense market and supply chain conditions – due in part to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – have led to increasing inflation around the world, and Peru has been no exception. Today, the controversial Talara oil refinery will be inaugurated and touted by the government as a solution to the current energy crisis. It is not.

Protect the Amazon, Protect the Planet!

Last year, the International Energy Agency released the most comprehensive and groundbreaking study yet, outlining requirements to meet the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below 1.5°C. It argued that if we are to meet those goals, there can be no development of new oil and gas fields and no new coal-fired power stations or coal...

Human Rights and Chinese Business Activities in Latin America

New report by the Collective on Chinese Financing and Investments, Human Rights and the Environment examines 26 cases of rights violations perpetrated by Chinese companies and financiers across Latin America, over half of which are in the Amazon

As part of the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council, more than 60 civil society organizations released a new report that evaluates 26 projects backed by Chinese companies and capital across nine Latin American countries. The investigation found a pattern of failure to comply with international standards on human rights and the environment...

Over 100 Environmental and Human Rights Organizations Join Amnesty International’s Call for Biden to Pardon Steven Donziger

Global human rights community calls for freedom for human rights lawyer Steven Donziger – unjustly detained for over two years according to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

 “More than four months since a discerning opinion by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that found Steven Donziger’s detention to be arbitrary, U.S. judicial authorities have thus far failed to take any action to remedy the situation and implement the Working Group’s call to ensure Mr. Donziger’s immediate release.”

What Are Carbon Offset Markets Selling? Not Solutions to Amazon Destruction

The world’s most notorious corporate greenwashers are once again targeting the rainforest to avoid actually reducing emissions

Corporate polluters have used offsets as an excuse to keep emitting, but there’s little evidence that offsets are actually slowing climate change. What’s more, offset programs have enabled land-grabbing and violations of Indigenous rights in the Amazon.

Citigroup “Climate Forward” Reputation Remains Tainted with Impacts of Fossil Fuel Financing in Amazon Rainforest

Report shows bank’s role in funding state-run oil companies with ties to corruption, rights violations, pollution, and deforestation in the Amazon. Indigenous leaders, human rights and environmental campaigners calling for Citi to exit Amazon oil and gas

Ahead of Citigroup Investor Day, environmental campaigners at Amazon Watch and Stand.earth are releasing a report spotlighting the bank’s exposure and central role in providing financing and investments of tens of billions to oil and gas companies in the Amazon.

The Science Based Targets Initiative's Proposed FLAG Targets are a Corporate Gift to Big Agribusiness

The inclusion of carbon offset schemes and carbon intensity-based targets for commodity producers poses grave threats to Indigenous rights, forest ecosystems, and the climate, groups warn

Oakland, CA – Today, Amazon Watch and allied organizations submitted their opposition to the Science Based Targets Initiative’s (SBTi) newly-proposed Forests, Land, and Agriculture (FLAG) emissions targets. The proposed FLAG targets are incompatible with the action necessary to address the climate crisis.

New Oil Company Enters Failed Block 64, Again

Achuar and Wampis communities are mobilizing against Petroperú’s intention to exploit the northern Peruvian oil block

If you have followed Amazon Watch’s campaigns over the years, the name Block 64 might ring a bell. Over the course of almost 30 years, the Peruvian government has encouraged a steady parade of international oil companies to explore and exploit the oil concession, located near the border with Ecuador. All have hit a major obstacle: the vehement...

This Lawyer Should Be World-famous for His Battle With Chevron – But He’s in Jail

Chevron is accused of polluting the Amazon for 26 years. The only people who’ve paid the price are a human rights lawyer and those whose land was poisoned.

The Guardian | Most people have probably heard of Chernobyl, or the BP oil spill. You may also know about my legal battle over contaminated water in California, dramatized in the movie Erin Brockovich. Yet far fewer people have heard about what transpired in the Ecuadorian Amazon – though it’s considered by some activists, journalists, and members of US...

Indigenous Communities Confront Ecuadorian Government and International Financiers at Oil and Energy Conference

Promises of environmental responsibility ring hollow as recent major spill turns rainforest and rivers black with crude

Quito, Ecuador – Today the leaders of Ecuador’s Indigenous movement and the regional pan-Amazon Indigenous organization mobilized outside Ecuador’s Annual Conference for Oil and Energy to demand justice for communities affected by the recent disastrous Amazon oil spill and to denounce plans for new drilling.

Citigroup Fails to Rein in Oil and Gas Expansion to Address Amazon Rainforest Crisis

Oakland, CA – Yesterday, finance giant Citigroup released an outline of its latest plans to achieve net zero in its energy and power portfolios. Despite these new commitments, Citi remains a major bankroller of oil and gas expansion in the Amazon biome – as it is the top financier of state-owned oil companies in the Amazon. This reality is...