European Banks Pour Nearly €8 Billion a Year into Critical Minerals Mining Despite Links to Human Rights and Environmental Abuses

Between 2016 and 2024, EU banks provided €64 billion in loans and underwriting services to mining companies extracting critical raw materials, including lithium, copper, nickel and cobalt; all essential for Europe’s clean energy future. EU investors hold €15 billion in bonds and shares in mining companies.  

The report analyses the eight largest EU banks and investors on their environmental and human rights safeguards, including BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, ING, and Banco Santander, giving scores ranging from just 2.6 to 4.0 out of 10.  

The ‘top’ performer, Dutch pension fund ABP, was awarded a modest 4. Meanwhile, Crédit Agricole (EU’s largest investor in mining companies), Allianz (the second largest) and Spanish Bank BBVA all scored below 3. 

“The rush for critical minerals is often seen as the building blocks for green energy, but their supply chains are rife with pollution and social conflict. This is not about a few bad apples, but rather a system that allows Europe’s financiers off the hook as the rules are too weak. Not only does this result in human rights and environmental abuses, this also exposes European banks and investors to financial and reputational risks,” says Kees Kodde, Oxfam and Fair Finance International Project Lead.  

The report traces European banks and investors linked to four mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Brazil and Peru, each tied to environmental or human rights abuses. 

• In the DRC, Allianz, BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole have invested millions in the mining companies that own the vast Kamoa-Kakula copper and cobalt mine. This is despite reports of land grabs, polluted water and resettlement sites without clean water and with unfarmable land.
• In 2025, a peaceful protest by villagers was met with mass arbitrary arrests and violence, including the shooting at two protestors. 
• In Peru, Allianz, Deutsche Bank and ING finance Glencore, the company operating the Antapaccay copper mine. Residents living nearby report respiratory problems and livestock deaths.
• Research by Peru’s state environmental agency, confirms that the mine pollutes air and waterways with toxic metals. Glencore’s planned expansion has been marked by secrecy and individual deals that undermine communities living in the area. 
• In Mozambique, European investors fund the Balama mine, which supplies graphite for EV batteries used for charging electric cars. Communities in the area report they have had to leave their homes and farms without fair compensation. They also report contamination of water sources. 
• In Brazil, BNP Paribas owns shares in Sigma Lithium which markets itself as a green lithium pioneer. Yet residents report that the company diverted their only source of water without consent and instructed them to stop using the water without any explanation.
• Dust pollution from mine explosions has also seen an increase in reports of respiratory diseases and heavy blasting has led to cracks in the walls of houses with residents fearing their homes may collapse.

“Communities in the Peruvian Andes are being dispossessed of their land, suffering from health problems, and seeing their rights violated as mining projects financed by European banks and investors expand. These institutions are investing money in companies that have failed to deliver on their promises, pollute the water, and disregard the human rights of Indigenous peoples,” said Yovana Mamani of CooperAcción.  

The report’s findings come as Europe is investing more to secure critical raw materials to support the green transition while simultaneously rolling back on its sustainability rules, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, through the Omnibus proposals. 

“Europe’s clean energy transition is being financed at the expense of its sustainability track record, and the EU is also weakening the very safeguards meant to prevent this. Ignoring human rights is not just unjust, it is also bad business. Social unrest can shut down mines, disrupt supply and make Europe’s energy transition more expensive. The green transition requires responsible financing, not blind investment”, said Femmy Thewissen of 11.11.11. 

Note

Experts from partner organisations in the DRC and Peru as well as Fair Finance International and 11.11.11 are available for interview and comment. 

On 20 November, Oxfam, Fair Finance International and 11.11.11 will organise an event in Brussels during the EU Raw Materials Week with participation from report authors and the European Commission. More information, including registration details, are here. 

The full report “Financing Critical Minerals but Failing Critical Safeguards” – including the methodology, case studies and recommendations (EU, financial institutions and mining companies) – is available here. You can also find the accompanying policy brief here.

The report analysed eight of the largest EU financiers investing in critical minerals: ABP (Dutch pension fund), Allianz (German investor and insurance company), BBVA (Spanish bank), BNP Paribas (French bank), Crédit Agricole (French bank), Deutsche Bank (German bank), ING (Dutch bank), Santander (Spanish bank). 

Data on banks and investors as well as additional research was carried out by the research consultant Profundo. All institutions mentioned in the report were given the opportunity to comment.

Please find responses by banks and companies here. 

Widely touted as “green transition minerals”, critical minerals, such as lithium, copper, cobalt, graphite and nickel are essential for a wide range of sectors such as clean energy, digital technology and, increasingly, defense. 

The report also draws a link between weak due diligence obligations and financial and reputational risks for EU banks and investors as community conflicts, protests and environmental damage can delay or halt mining operations.   

The report urges the EU to:  

• Stop diluting the EU’s sustainability and due diligence rules, including the CSDDD as part of the Omnibus proposal.
• Hold banks and investors accountable to prevent them from financing projects linked to human rights or environmental abuses.
• Introduce “Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)” in EU laws relevant to mining for raw materials, including the Critical Raw Materials Act and Batteries Regulation. This will make it mandatory to obtain approval from those people affected before mining begins. FPIC is a right under international law for Indigenous peoples and best practice for affected local communities.

Fair Finance International (FFI) is an international civil society network of over 150 CSO partners and allies, active in 20 countries, that seeks to strengthen the commitment of banks and other financial institutions to social, environmental and human rights standards.

As a global network we use a rigorous methodology to assess, report on, and campaign for more responsible investment policies & practices.

By benchmarking the investment policies and practices of financial institutions in critical areas such as human rights and climate impact, we enable consumers and policy holders to demand more socially responsible, fair, and sustainable investments.

*SOURCE: OXFAM International. Go to ORIGINA: https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/european-banks-pour-nearly-eu8-billion-year-critical-minerals-mining-despite-links 2025 Human Wrongs Watch