A day after the Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras announced it would begin drilling for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River “immediately” after obtaining a license despite concerns over the impact on wildlife, a new analysis revealed that banks have added $2 billion in direct financing for oil and gas in the Amazon Rainforest since 2024.
The report from Stand.earth—and Petrobras’ license—arrives just weeks before officials in Belém, Brazil prepare to host the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), where advocates are calling for an investment of $1.3 trillion per year for developing countries to mitigate and adapt to the climate emergency.
Based on 843 deals involving 330 banks, Stand.earth found that U.S. institutions JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citi are among the worst-performing, providing between $283 million and $326 million in financing for oil and gas activities in the Amazon. The biggest spender over the past year has been Itaú Unibanco, a Brazilian bank that sent $378 million to fossil fuel companies for extractive operations in the region.
“Oil and gas expansion in the Amazon endangers one of the world’s most vital ecosystems and Indigenous peoples who have protected it for millennia,” said Stand.earth. “In addition to fossil fuels leading global greenhouse gas emissions, in the Amazon their extraction also accelerates deforestation, and pollutes rivers and communities.”
The analysis shows that banks have directly financed more than $15 billion to oil and gas companies in the Amazon since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2016. Nearly 75% of that investment has come from just 10 firms, including Itaú, JPMorgan Chase, Citi, and Bank of America.
This latest wave of financing coincides with turbulence in the global climate finance sector. The UN-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance, created in 2021 to help banks reach net-zero emissions by 2050, recently suspended operations after several large institutions withdrew. Despite such initiatives, fossil fuel financing continues to rise—particularly in regions like the Amazon where projects are expanding into previously undisturbed ecosystems.
Devyani Singh, lead researcher for Stand.earth’s new bank scorecard on fossil fuel financing, noted that European banks like BNP Paribas and HSBC have “applied more robust policies to protect the sensitive Amazon rainforest than their peers” and have “significantly dropped in financing ranks.” However, she emphasized that “no bank has yet brought its financing to zero. Every one of these banks must close the existing loopholes and fully exit Amazon oil and gas without delay.”
Stand.earth’s Banks vs. the Amazon report identifies that more than 80% of recent fossil fuel financing in the region has gone to just six oil and gas companies: Petrobras, Canada’s Gran Tierra, Brazil’s Eneva, oil trader Gunvor, and two Peruvian companies—Hunt Oil Peru and Pluspetrol Camisea. These companies have been associated with human rights violations, environmental destruction, and opposition from Indigenous communities across the Amazon Basin.
In Peru, Olivia Bisa, president of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Chapra Nation, condemned the ongoing flow of funds. “It’s outrageous that Bank of America, Scotiabank, Credicorp, and Itaú are increasing their financing of oil and gas in the Amazon at a time when the forest itself is under grave threat,” she said. “For decades, Indigenous Peoples have suffered the heaviest impacts of this destruction. We are calling on banks to change course now: by ending support for extractive industries in the Amazon, they can help protect the forest that sustains our lives and the future of the planet.”
Similar concerns were raised in Colombia. Ingry Mojanajinsoy, president of the Association of Inga Councils of the Municipality of Villagarzón Putumayo – ACIMVIP, said: “Oil companies like Gran Tierra have brought conflict, displacement, and loss of culture to our territory. Despite years of our resistance, Gran Tierra continues to expand, threatening our very way of life. Banks that finance Gran Tierra must stop immediately. We have never given consent for oil to be drilled on our lands.”
In Brazil, where Petrobras and Eneva continue to expand oil and gas operations, communities report daily disruptions and encroachment on their territories. Jonas Mura, chief of the Gavião Real Indigenous Territory, said “the noise, the constant truck traffic, and the explosions” from Eneva’s projects “have driven away the animals and affected our hunting.” He added: “Even worse: they are entering without our consent. Our territory feels threatened, and our families are being directly harmed. Around 1,700 Indigenous people live here, and our survival depends on the forest. We ask that banks such as Itaú, Santander, and Banco do Nordeste stop financing companies that exploit fossil fuels in Indigenous territories.”
“These companies have no commitment to the environment, to Indigenous and traditional peoples, or to the future of the planet,” Mura continued. “These investments are complicit in genocide: They are killing our culture, our history, and destroying the biodiversity of the Amazon.”
The Stand.earth report also points to Itaú Unibanco’s contradictory stance. While the bank presents itself as a leader in sustainability, it remains the top financier of Amazon oil and gas projects for 2024–2025, largely because of its support for Eneva. Itaú’s public claims of supporting “the region’s socioeconomic development and environmental conservation” stand in stark contrast to its financial backing of extractive industries operating within Indigenous territories.
Other institutions show a mixed picture. Spanish bank Santander, under pressure from civil society, reduced its financing to Eneva after a federal court ordered the company to halt gas extraction on Gavião Real land. But Santander continues to finance both Eneva and Petrobras. Meanwhile, BNP Paribas and HSBC—named as frontrunners in Stand.earth’s scorecard—have tightened restrictions on Amazon oil and gas, while banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Credicorp remain among the worst offenders.
Martyna Dominiak, Stand.earth’s senior climate finance campaigner and lead author of the Banks vs. the Amazon scorecard, said: “The Banks vs. The Amazon scorecard and Amazon Banks Database update present not only a clear opportunity but an urgent deadline ahead of COP30 for banks to stop financing fossil fuels in the Amazon. For Indigenous Peoples resisting extractivism — and their allies — the region’s first climate COP is a pivotal moment demanding an Amazon free from fossil fuels.”
The Stand.earth report warns that both the rainforest and its people face “escalating threats” from oil and gas companies and the financial institutions enabling them, with centuries of exploitation driving the region “toward an ecological tipping point with irreversible impacts that have global consequences.” The group cautions that “with warming temperatures, the delicate ecological balance of the Amazon could be upset, flipping it from being a carbon-absorbing rainforest into a carbon-emitting savannah.”
As Petrobras prepares to drill near one of the most sensitive ecological regions on Earth and banks expand their fossil fuel portfolios, the world’s largest rainforest continues to inch closer to irreversible damage. The timing—just before COP30—is a stark reminder that despite global climate commitments, the flow of money still favors extraction over preservation.
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