News and insights

Omnia and Wallbrook support WWF in call for new UK financial sector due diligence obligations to mitigate serious deforestation and conversion risks.

10th September 2021

WWF, one of the world’s largest conservation organisations, has today published its report entitled Risky Finance – The UK financial sector’s role in financing deforestation and conversion. The report by WWF-UK was prepared with specialist ESG support from Wallbrook and Omnia Strategy, and is available online here.

The report quantifies the risk of exposure of the UK’s financial sector to deforestation and conversion through forest-risk commodities. It reveals that UK financial sector actors have provided almost £40 billion in financing into the supply chains for Indonesian palm oil and Brazilian beef and soy alone. Its lower-bound estimate of total exposure to these supply chains, including indirectly through other investors, is almost £200 billion.

WWF-UK recommends policy solutions to address financed deforestation and conversion. The report calls on the UK Government to implement the recommendations of the Global Resources Initiative and develop a pathway for robust mandatory due diligence rules for the financial sector. Building upon existing voluntary reporting frameworks and pioneering legislation, it outlines the key principles of an effective national policy and presents a model for significant but feasible regulatory intervention to help reveal and reduce the UK banking sector’s exposure to deforestation and conversion.

Full Omnia and Wallbrook press release is available in the the pdf below and via the link here:

Full WWF-UK report, ‘Risky Finance – The UK financial sector’s role in financing deforestation and conversion’, is available here.