Harms to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including violations of the right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), often go hand and hand with tropical deforestation. This is due to the fact that production of commodities that drive deforestation – such as beef, soy, palm oil and cocoa – often occurs in areas that overlap with Indigenous lands. For example, the large meatpackers Minerva and Frigorifico Concepción were found to be sourcing from ranchers responsible for illegal land grabbing of Indigenous lands in Paraguay since 2018, and yet, major financiers such as HSBC, BlackRock, Santander have continued to invest in these companies.  
Despite these risks, across the 150 financial institutions with the highest exposure to tropical deforestation in their portfolios – as assessed in Global Canopy’s Forest 500 assessment – the average score of the strength of requirements that clients and holdings must test for FPIC of Indigenous Peoples is only 21%. This is only a modest improvement over the average score of 14% in 2018. A full score of 100% is only given to financial institutions who require clients and holdings to test for FPIC of Indigenous peoples and local communities prior to acquiring new interests, developments, or expansions, and to not proceed with these operations unless consent has been given.  

Harms to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including violations of the right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), often go hand and hand with tropical deforestation. This is due to the fact that production of commodities that drive deforestation – such as beef, soy, palm oil and cocoa – often occurs in areas that overlap with Indigenous lands. For example, the large meatpackers Minerva and Frigorifico Concepción were found to be sourcing from ranchers responsible for illegal land grabbing of Indigenous lands in Paraguay since 2018, and yet, major financiers such as HSBC, BlackRock, Santander have continued to invest in these companies.  
Despite these risks, across the 150 financial institutions with the highest exposure to tropical deforestation in their portfolios – as assessed in Global Canopy’s Forest 500 assessment – the average score of the strength of requirements that clients and holdings must test for FPIC of Indigenous Peoples is only 21%. This is only a modest improvement over the average score of 14% in 2018. A full score of 100% is only given to financial institutions who require clients and holdings to test for FPIC of Indigenous peoples and local communities prior to acquiring new interests, developments, or expansions, and to not proceed with these operations unless consent has been given.