Sectors & commodity chains
Sustainability themes

Projects

To illustrate our broad expertise, covering many different economic sectors, commodities, sustainability themes and countries, this page gives an overview of the different projects executed by Profundo over the years. In the menu, you can filter the projects by thematic area. Each project is described briefly and where available the project portfolio - such as reports, brochures or presentations - is provided. Attention is also given to the exposure generated by the project in the media, in politics and elsewhere.

We analyse the financial parameters of companies and assess how companies and their financiers could be affected in different scenarios by Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks related to deforestation, climate change emissions, human rights abuses, resource depletion, health impacts and other sustainability issues.

We analyse the various human rights and other sustainability risks in international commodity supply chains and identify what different stakeholders can do to foster sustainable development of value chains in agriculture, forestry, livestock, energy, fisheries and mineral sectors.

We analyse how companies are financed by banks, shareholders and others financiers, to assess what financiers could do to foster sustainable corporate practices. Also, we dig into ownership structures and the schemes companies have set up to minimise tax payments.

We assess and benchmark responsible investment and credit policies of banks and investors and we advise on how policies can be improved and implemented through screening, voting, engagement and exclusion strategies.

April 2024

April 7, 2024

Friends of the Earth Netherlands

Their Gain, Our Loss: How polluting companies enrich shareholders at the expense of people and planet

Enriching major shareholders at the expense of society. That is the business model of big polluting companies. Milieudefensie, with contributions from Profundo and SOMO, investigated the profits, shareholder distributions and climate damage of 20 polluting companies and banks. These companies account for €761 billion in climate damage, but do far too little to prevent it. Indeed, since the Paris Climate Agreement, the companies collectively earned €317 billion of net profit that was almost entirely channelled to major shareholders rather than used to tackle the damage they are responsible for.

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Report: Factsheet Hun Winst Ons Verlies

Report: Their Gain, Our Loss

Publicity

Duurzaam-ondernemen: ‘Ahold Delhaize weigert klimaatvraag Milieudefensie te beantwoorden en maakt zich juridisch kwetsbaar’

Duurzaam-ondernemen: 92% winst grote vervuilers naar aandeelhouder, maar geen geld voor klimaatambitie

Financieele Dagblad: ‘Grote vervuilende bedrijven kunnen hun verduurzaming best zelf betalen’

Milieudefensie: Grootaandeelhouders graaien zich rijk ten koste van de aarde - en de mensen die er wonen

April 3, 2024

Friends of the Earth Netherlands

Climate damage caused by 20 large companies

This report calculates the value of the climate damage generated by 20 large companies in the year 2022, at € 761 billion per year. The 20 companies were selected by Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) and belong to a list of large greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters with activities in the Netherlands. Two companies accounted for 72% of all emissions: British Petroleum (BP) and ExxonMobil. The group of 20 companies distributed 92% of their average annual net profit in 2016-2022 to shareholders through dividends and through share buybacks. They did this while the value of the climate damage they caused in 2022 amounted to 1,644% of their average net profit.

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Report: Large GHG Emitters in 2022

April 4, 2024

Friends of the Earth International

Bull in the Climate Shop: US Banks and Industrial Livestock Financing

A new study conducted by Profundo and Friends of the Earth examines U.S. banks’ financing of meat, dairy, and feed corporations and the sizable climate impact of that financing. Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase (the “Big Three”) are responsible for more than half of the $134 billion in loans and underwriting examined in the report. According to the findings of the report, taking action to reduce financed and facilitated emissions from corporations involved in meat, dairy, and/or feed production could be one of the most effective measures major U.S. banks could take to make progress toward their climate commitments.

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Report: Bull in the Climate Shop

Report: Summary Bull in the Climate Shop

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Capital & Main: Report: Banks Should Set Stricter Climate Goals for Agriculture Clients

E&E News: Report knocks US banks over climate impacts of loans

EcoWatch: Report: U.S. Banks ‘Sabotaging’ Climate Targets by Financing Meat & Dairy Corporations

ESG Investor: Farmers, Financiers Urged to Seek Pastures New

Forbes: Big Meat And Dairy – Are Banks Financing The Next Emissions Timebomb?

Forests & Finance: New Study: Financing For Industrial Livestock Undermines U.S. Banks’ Climate Commitments

Fortune: Big Meat leaves ‘a huge cow-shaped hole’ in big banks’ climate commitments, new report finds

Friends of the Earth: New Study: Financing for Industrial Livestock Undermines U.S. Banks’ Climate Commitments

The Animal Reader: US banks funding meat industry conflicts with their climate goals

The Guardian: US banks ‘sabotaging’ own net zero plans by livestock financing, report claims

Yahoo!finance: Big Meat leaves ‘a huge cow-shaped hole’ in big banks’ climate commitments, new report finds

March 2024

March 26, 2024

Fair Finance Bangladesh

Fair Finance Training Bangladesh

Profundo senior policy researcher Juliette Laplane facilitated a three-day training in March in Dhaka, Bangladesh on the topic of Fair Finance. The training which gathered around 20 participants, was organized by Fair Finance Bangladesh, a civil society coalition coordinated by Oxfam in Bangladesh, which is supported by Fair Finance Asia. During the training, participants discussed how financial institutions active in Bangladesh can accelerate sustainable policies and practices of companies which advance the interests and needs of local communities. Participants also discussed how the Fair Finance Guide International Methodology can be a useful tool to engage with the banks toward this goal.

March 26, 2024

Greenpeace International

The EU is Bankrolling Ecosystem Destruction

Through consumption of products from cleared and degraded land and through finance of companies profiting from this, the EU contributes to the destruction of forests and other ecosystems both within and outside its borders. This report, published by Greenpeace, Milieudefensie and Harvest, lays out the importance of EU regulation of the financial sector to align finance with the global 1.5°C and biodiversity targets, including ending any new provision of financial services to groups that contribute to nature destruction. Profundo conducted the financial research for the report.

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Report: Bankrolling Ecosystem Destruction

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AIV: Rapport stelt dat ING en Rabo hoofdrollen spelen bij aantasting milieu

CityWire Italia: Banche, reti e sgr italiane accusate da Greenpeace di complicità con la deforestazione: i nomi

Curacao Chronicle: Dutch banks second worst culprits in Europe for loaning money to climate disruptors

Ends Europe: ‘Bankrolling extinction’: EU banks pour €256bn into nature-wrecking businesses

euronews.business: EU banks under attack over funds to ecosystem wreckers

Europatoday: European banks invest tens of billions in companies that destroy the planet

La Libre: Des milliards d'euros versés à des secteurs qui détruisent la nature: "L'Europe ferme les yeux quand ses banques violent les droits humains"

Le Soir: Les grandes banques européennes accusées de financer la déforestation

rfi: EU banks under fire, accused of financing 'ecosystem destruction'

RTL info: Des banques de l'UE ont versé des milliards à des secteurs qui détruisent la nature

yahoo!news: EU banks under fire, accused of financing 'ecosystem destruction'

March 18, 2024

Feedback Global

Still Butchering the Planet

This report maps the global financial flows to the world’s largest 55 industrial livestock companies. These companies are some of the food system’s largest drivers of climate change, deforestation, human rights and labour violations, pandemic risks, and animal welfare abuses. In spite of this, this report, updating previous research done in 2020, reveals that finance for these companies is actually growing. The list of companies was based on research done by Profundo and Profundo conducted the research identifying the companies' financial backers.

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Report: Still Butchering the Planet

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BankTrack: Still butchering the planet

green queen: Cash Cows: Banks Have Financed Over Half a Trillion Dollars to Increase Meat & Dairy Production Since the 2015 Paris Agreement

Plant Based News: Meat And Dairy Companies Given Over Half A Trillion In Funding Since Paris Agreement

The Guardian: Banks driving increase in global meat and dairy production, report finds

Turkiye: Major banks' role in expanding global livestock industry, reveals report

March 14, 2024

Greenpeace Germany

Fossil fuel investments of German asset managers

Profundo provided Greenpeace Germany with a dataset of fossil fuel investments by the four top German asset managers.

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Report: Climate-damaging investments despite climate promises

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Augsburger Allgemeine: Greenpeace protestiert gegen Deutsche-Bank-Fondstochter DWS

City Wire: Deutsche Fondsriesen reagieren auf Klimavorwürfe von Greenpeace

Clean Energy Wire: Leading German investment funds continue to neglect climate targets in portfolio - Greenpeace

dpa international: Greenpeace protests outside headquarters of Deutsche Bank subsidiary

ECOreporter: Greenpeace-Studie: DWS, Deka & Co. investieren weiter stark in Öl und Kohle

FAZ: Greenpeace protestiert vor DWS-Zentrale

Focus: Greenpeace wirft größten Fondsgesellschaften Deutschlands Greenwashing vor

hessenschau: Greenpeace protestiert gegen Deutsche-Bank-Tochter DWS

manager magazin: So klimaschädlich investieren Deutschlands Vermögensverwalter

MarketScreener: Greenpeace protesteert voor het hoofdkantoor van Deutsche Bank fondsdochter DWS

ntg24: US-FINANZINVESTOR MÖCHTE ENCAVIS VON DER BÖRSE NEHMEN – DWS ERNEUT ZIEL VON PROTESTAKTIONEN

onvista: Greenpeace protestiert gegen Deutsche-Bank-Fondstochter DWS

Stern: Protest vor Zentrale von Deutsche-Bank-Fondstochter DWS

SZ.de: Greenpeace protestiert gegen Deutsche-Bank-Fondstochter DWS

t-online: Greenpeace protestiert vor Zentrale von Deutsche-Bank-Fondstochter DWS

TAG24: GREENPEACE MIT HEFTIGEM PROTEST VOR DWS-ZENTRALE: "KEIN GELD FÜR KLIMAKILLER"

Traunsteiner Tagblatt: Grasfütterung für Kühe macht Milchproduktion nachhaltiger

WiWo: Zu viel Kohle: Greenpeace kritisiert die vier größten deutschen Fondshäuser

March 11, 2024

WWF Norway

Deep Seabed Mining: WWF's guide for financial institutions

There is widespread concern in the scientific community about how deep seabed mining (DSM) could have irreversible impacts on deep ocean ecosystems by altering the delicate balance between sediments, nutrients and living organisms. DSM is also likely to impact the carbon storage ability of the deep sea, which is the biggest carbon storage area on the planet. WWF has published their guide for financial institutions on DSM, recommending that they join the growing number of governments, organizations, scientists, companies, and financial institutions that are calling for a global Moratorium on DSM. To support financial institutions to implement a DSM-policy, Profundo, on behalf of WWF, carried out a market analysis with the goal of identifying companies engaged, in various form, in deep seabed mining.

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Report: Deep Seabed Mining: WWF's guide for financial institutions

March 5, 2024

Feedback EU

Climate Impact of Big Money

Dutch banks such as ING, ABN Amro and Rabobank finance industrial livestock farming. This undermines important commitments the banks previously made on climate, biodiversity, deforestation, human rights and corruption. Profundo conducted, for FeedbackEU, an analysis of a dataset on the financing activities of Dutch banks relating to 55 of the world's largest meat, dairy and animal feed companies. This report reveals the extent of financing by the Netherlands' largest sponsors of the industrial livestock industry: the ING and Rabobank.

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Report: Climate Impacts of Big Money

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FeedbackEU: Dutch Banks: Cease Financing Industrial Livestock Farming

March 26, 2024

Reclaim Finance

The Banks Propping Up Coal-Based Steel

Despite the crucial need to decarbonize the steel sector, which is one of the biggest sources of industrial emissions, the world’s major banks continue to support the largest and most polluting steel producers. Given that demand for steel will continue to grow, it is crucial that this sector is decarbonized to limit global warming to 1.5°C, and it is also possible given that new technologies, notably based on green hydrogen, exist. This is the result of Reclaim Finance's report on the banks financing steel production using metallurgical coal. Profundo conducted financial research for the report.

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Report: The Banks Propping Up Coal-Based Steel

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Reclaim Finance: The banks financing dirty steel

March 21, 2024

Fair Finance Guide Netherlands

How the Netherlands finances the agrilobby in Brazil

Fair Finance Guide Netherlands has published a new report analysing the financial links between Dutch financial institutions and 18 key players in the Institute Pensar Agro (IPA) and the agribusiness lobby in general. In the period 2019 - 2023, the three major Dutch banks Rabobank, ABN Amro and ING Group have provided US$ 1.89 billion in financing to these 18 key agribusiness players. Rabobank is responsible for 86% of all transactions made by Dutch financial institutions in Brazil in this period, making it stand out as the bank with the most significant presence on the ground in Brazil. The Forests & Finance platform was selected as the major dataset for this report. Forests & Finance is a coalition of organisations including Profundo.

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Report: How the Netherlands finances the agrilobby in Brazil

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Eerlijke Geldwijzer: Rabobank faciliteert lobby van Braziliaanse ontbossers met miljarden

March 14, 2024

CNV Internationaal

OSH risks faced by mineworkers in Bolivia and Peru

This report has been commissioned by CNV Internationaal in the context of the project "Improving OSH in three Andean mines", which is implemented within the Collective Agreement on Social Responsibility of Dutch Companies in the metallurgical sector to mitigate safety and health risks in mines in Bolivia and Peru. This report is part of a series of investigations into the sector that CNV Internationaal, in collaboration with Profundo, has been conducting since 2022 on labour risks in the mining industries of Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru. It drew on the perspectives of 410 Bolivian and Peruvian workers who participated in CNV Internationaal’s participatory digital monitoring in December 2023.

March 12, 2024

Global Witness

The Credit Chainsaw

The destruction of the world’s forests fuels both the global climate emergency and biodiversity loss, and comes at a devastating cost for forest communities, who defend and depend on them. Forests & Finance data, and Profundo reports were used in the development of this literature review published by Global Witness that shows how the 20 biggest banks in the EU have provided billions to companies linked to deforestation since 2016. This review shows that voluntary guidelines and individual commitments by financial institutions are unlikely to stop the financing of forest destruction.

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Report: The Credit Chainsaw

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Global Witness: The credit chainsaw

March 6, 2024

Alliance contre le tabac

Financing the Tobacco Industry

Despite the human, societal and environmental disaster that the tobacco industry represents, it continues to benefit from financial support to continue its activities, including from French institutions. Profundo conducted financial research for Alliance Contre le Tabac revealing that since 2018, more than $5 billion in loans have been granted by French players to tobacco companies. In terms of investments, as of November 2023, there were still $733 million placed in the sector by domestic financial institutions. These amounts come directly from actors who publicly committed to stop all tobacco financing a few years ago.

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Report: Summary (in French): Financing the Tobacco Industry

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ACT: Press Release Financing the Tobacco Industry

Euractiv: French banks keep financing tobacco industry, despite promises

Forbes: Ces banques françaises continuent de financer l’industrie du tabac malgré leurs engagements

France Inter: Société Générale, Crédit Agricole : ces banques françaises qui continuent de financer les géants du tabac

franceinfo: Des banques françaises continuent à financer l'industrie du tabac malgré leurs promesses

Huffington Post: Ces banques françaises financent encore l’industrie du tabac malgré leurs promesses

Libération: Malgré leurs engagements, des banques françaises continuent de financer l’industrie du tabac

novethic: Politiques d’exclusion : les banques toujours pas sevrées du tabac

rfi: French banks accused of continuing to finance tobacco industry

tobacco reporter: French Continuing to Finance Tobacco: Report

February 2024

February 21, 2024

Make My Money Matter

UK Pension Providers Climate Action

Pension schemes in the United Kingdom (UK) have a crucial role to play in combatting the climate crisis, whilst ensuring long term sustainable returns for beneficiaries. Profundo conducted a policy assessment of the twenty largest defined contribution (DC) workplace pension providers in the UK for Make My Money Matter (MMMM). The assessment framework consisted of seven themes that are important for addressing climate change: commitment to a 1.5 °C pathway; measurement and disclosure of the carbon footprint; detailed target setting per sector and asset class; investments in climate solutions; phase-out of fossil fuels; deforestation and land use; stewardship instruments used to align the portfolio and drive change. The results of this study indicate that most of the largest UK DC pension providers have inadequate or poor policies to address climate change issues. Based on these findings, this report indicates priority areas for UK DC pension providers to focus on in 2024 and beyond.

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Report: Summary UK Pension Providers Climate Action

Report: UK Pension Providers Climate Action

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Actuarial Post: 85 percent of pension providers have poor climate plans.

BusinessGreen: Study: Majority of UK pension providers have 'inadequate' climate plans

corporate advisor: Pension providers slammed for insufficient action on climate crisis

edie: Majority of UK pension firms have ‘inadequate’ climate plans

ESG Investor: UK Pension Providers Failing on Climate

FT advisor: How to help clients with philanthropy

IFA: 85% of leading UK pension providers have ‘inadequate’ or ‘poor’ climate plans in place

IPE: Majority of UK pension providers found to have ‘inadequate’ or ‘poor’ climate plans

Make My Money Matter: Is your pension fuelling the climate crisis?

My Green Pod: How Green is your Pension?

Pension Policy International: Majority of UK pension providers have ‘inadequate’ climate plans, says MMMM

Pensions Age: Majority of DC providers' climate action plans deemed 'inadequate'

Professional Pensions: Majority of UK pension providers have 'inadequate' climate plans, says MMMM

responsible investor: Stewardship at UK pension schemes under scrutiny

February 21, 2024

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

Financial institutions and nuclear weapons

All nuclear-armed states are currently modernizing their nuclear weapon systems. Profundo conducted research for this Don't Bank on the Bomb report profiling the companies most heavily involved in the nuclear weapon industry. Altogether, 287 financial institutions were identified for having substantial financing or investments relations with 24 companies involved in nuclear weapon production.

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Report: Untenable Investments: Nuclear weapon producers and their financiers

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El Salto: BBVA, Santander, Sabadell y CaixaBank siguen financiando la industria de las armas nucleares

Forbes: Private Financiers Pour Billions Into Nuclear Weapons Production

ICAN: Fewer financial institutions back the nuclear weapons industry since the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty

Pax: Onhoudbare investeringen in nucleaire wapens

pressenza: Disminuye el número de entidades financieras que respaldan la industria de las armas nucleares

Responsible Statecraft: Big US investors prop up the nuclear weapons industry

Valori: Armi nucleari e chi le finanzia: il nuovo rapporto Don’t Bank on the Bomb

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