Revelations that European’s money – and EU-based investors – play a key role in funding projects linked to human rights abuses, land grabs and large-scale environmental destruction, are unfortunately far too common place...

Our new briefing paper draws on previous Global Witness exposés to highlight the devastating impact of harms caused by predatory natural resource projects on communities around the world and the role that some EU-based investors have played in supporting them.

This includes case studies involving European investments in:

• Oil exploration in Africa’s oldest national park
• A mining project in India which sparked violent protests
• Deforestation and land grabbing in Asia and Africa ...

The EU’s landmark Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth claims to ‘reorient private capital to more sustainable investments’ and mainstream sustainability across investors’ risk management. This is a major step forward.

But while strong on rhetoric, the Action Plan lacks the substance to truly tackle the social and environmental harm caused by the financial sector...