Swiss banks to help finance cutting of rainforests for palm oil, say NGOs

Swiss banks, Credit Suisse and UBS, together with the French BNP Paribas, are helping Singapore-listed Golden Agri-Resources raise up to 280 million Swiss francs ($258 million) to finance conversion of large areas of rainforest in New Guinea and Borneo for oil palm plantations, reports the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), a group that campaigns on behalf of forest people in Southeast Asia.

The deal would finance expansion of plantations operated by Sinar Mas, a subsidiary of Golden Agri-Resources. A recent report from Greenpeace Indonesia says that Sinar Mas plans to convert up to 2.8 million hectares of forest for new plantations in the Indonesian provinces of Kalimantan and Papua.
Environmentalists say Credit Suisse’s decision to help finance the project calls into question the banks commitment to the the Equator Principles, a set of environmental and social benchmarks for managing environmental and social issues in development project finance globally.

Mongabay