Kewangan mesti dikawal selia bagi melindungi hutan dan komuniti/Regulate finance to safeguard forests and communities

[ENGLISH VERSION BELOW] Memandangkan pemimpin dunia akan bersidang di Brazil tidak lama lagi untuk COP30, laporan baharu daripada Forests & Finance Coalition mendedahkan bahawa kewangan untuk sektor yang mendorong penebangan hutan tropika telah meningkat sejak Perjanjian Paris.

Bank-bank global telah mencurahkan $72bn ke dalam sektor berisiko hutan sepanjang 18 bulan lalu, manakala pelabur memegang $42bn dalam bon dan saham.

Bertajuk Banking on Biodiversity Collapse 2025: After Ten Years of Paper Promises, It’s Time to Regulate Finance, laporan ini dilancarkan baru-baru ini di acara Prinsip bagi Pelaburan Bertanggungjawab (PRI) di São Paulo.

Ia menyediakan kemas kini penting mengenai arah alir pelaburan global dalam komoditi berisiko hutan, seperti minyak sawit, soya, daging lembu, dan pulpa dan kertas.

Penemuan itu menunjukkan bahawa separuh daripada 30 bank terbaik dunia telah meningkatkan pendedahan mereka kepada sektor berkaitan penebangan hutan sejak 2016.

Penemuan utama itu termasuklah:

• Sejak 2016, bank-bank telah menyediakan kredit sebanyak $429bn kepada syarikat komoditi berisiko hutan – peningkatan sebanyak 35%.
• Pelabur memegang saham dan bon sebanyak $42bn merentasi 191 syarikat berisiko hutan yang didahului oleh Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) ($3.8bn), Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (KWSP) ($3.5bn) dan Vanguard ($3.4bn).
• Lima pusat kewangan menguasai pembiayaan ini: Amerika Syarikat, Malaysia, Brazil, Jepun dan UK.
• Sesetengah bank telah meningkatkan pinjaman berisiko hutan mereka dengan pesat, termasuk Scotiabank (+717%) dan Banco do Nordeste do Brasil (+295%).

Data menunjukkan bahawa pelabur institusi Malaysia (PNB, KWSP dan Kumpulan Wang Persaraan KWAP) adalah antara pelabur paling ketara dalam sektor komoditi berisiko hutan.

Walaupun pembiayaan dan pelaburan besar Malaysia dalam sektor berisiko hutan berkait rapat dengan model pembangunan ekonominya yang lebih luas, ia juga menekankan kepentingan kritikal institusi kewangan Malaysia untuk menerima pakai dan melaksanakan dasar pelaburan dan pembiayaan yang kukuh dan bertanggungjawab untuk melindungi sumber hutan negara dan hak masyarakat.

Dalam beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini, banyak institusi kewangan Malaysia telah mula memperkenalkan dasar pelaburan dan pinjaman yang bertanggungjawab, termasuk komitmen kepada ESG (alam sekitar, sosial dan tadbir urus) dan rangka kerja tanpa penebangan hutan, tanpa gambut, tanpa eksploitasi.

Walaupun ini amat menggalakkan, ia masih belum menggambarkan kesegeraan yang perlu kita tangani isu-isu itu. Laporan ini mendapati bahawa walaupun sudah sedekad ikrar sifar bersih dan janji kemampanan, pendekatan sukarela ini telah gagal. Kebimbangan dan masalah peraturan kendiri atau pendekatan sukarela didokumentasikan secara meluas.

Satu pesanan utama daripada laporan global itu ialah momentum yang semakin meningkat dalam kalangan pergerakan masyarakat sivil untuk menggesa supaya mengawal selia kewangan bagi menangani penebangan hutan dan pelanggaran hak asasi manusia.

Gabungan itu menggesa kerajaan untuk menutup “jurang akauntabiliti” dengan menjadikan biodiversiti dan perlindungan hak asasi manusia teras kepada peraturan kewangan.

Saranannya termasuklah, usaha wajar mandatori terhadap risiko penebangan hutan, penalti modal bagi pinjaman berisiko tinggi, pendedahan portfolio yang telus, dan liabiliti undang-undang bagi kemudaratan alam sekitar dan sosial.

Laporan itu menyimpulkan, “Dekad pengawalan kendiri ini telah menjadi pilihan politik dan bukan kegagalan teknikal.

“Jika kita ingin menyampaikan Perjanjian Paris dan Rangka Kerja Biodiversiti Global, kerajaan mestilah beralih daripada janji di atas kertas kepada peraturan yang boleh dikuatkuasakan.”

English version

Regulate finance to safeguard forests and communities – global report

As world leaders will soon convene in Brazil for COP30, a new report from the Forests & Finance Coalition reveals that finance for sectors driving tropical deforestation has surged since the Paris Agreement.

Global banks have poured $72bn into forest-risk sectors over the last 18 months, while investors held $42bn in bonds and shares.

Titled Banking on Biodiversity Collapse 2025: After Ten Years of Paper Promises, It’s Time to Regulate Finance, the report was launched recently at the Principles for Responsible Investment event in São Paulo.

It provides an important update on global investment trends in forest-risk commodities, such as palm oil, soy, beef, and pulp and paper.

The findings show that half of the world’s top 30 banks have increased their exposure to deforestation-linked sectors since 2016.

Key findings include:

• Since 2016, banks have provided $429bn in credit to forest-risk commodity companies – a 35% increase.
• Investors hold $42bn in shares and bonds across 191 forest-risk companies – led by Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) ($3.8bn), the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) ($3.5bn) and Vanguard ($3.4bn).
• Five financial centres dominate this financing: the US, Malaysia, Brazil, Japan and the UK.
• Some banks have exponentially increased their forest-risk lending – including Scotiabank (+717%) and Banco do Nordeste do Brasil (+295%).

The data show that Malaysian institutional investors (PNB, EPF and Retirement Fund Inc or KWAP) are among the most significant investors in forest-risk commodity sectors.

While Malaysia’s substantial financing and investment in forest-risk sectors are closely linked to its broader economic development model, it also emphasises the critical importance of Malaysian financial institutions adopting and effectively implementing robust, responsible investment and financing policies to safeguard the nation’s forest resources and community rights.

In recent years, many Malaysian financial institutions have begun introducing responsible investment and lending policies, including environmental, social governance commitments and no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation frameworks.

While this is encouraging, it has yet to reflect the urgency with which we must address the issues. This report finds that despite a decade of net-zero pledges and sustainability promises, voluntary approaches have failed. The concerns and problems of self-regulation or voluntary approaches are widely documented.

One key message from the global report is the growing momentum among civil society movements calling for regulation of finance to address deforestation and human rights violations.

The coalition calls on governments to close the “accountability gap” by making biodiversity and human rights protection core to financial regulation.

Recommendations include mandatory due diligence on deforestation risk, capital penalties for high-risk lending, transparent disclosures of portfolios, and legal liability for environmental and social harms.

“This decade of self-regulation has been a political choice – not a technical failure,” the report concludes.

“If we want to deliver on the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework, governments must move from paper promises to enforceable rules.”

Meenakshi Raman, the president of Sahabat Alam, released this statement on behalf of the Forest & Finance Coalition.

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