Environmental and human rights activist groups said on Monday they had sued BNP Paribas, the eurozone's biggest bank, for providing financial services to companies they allege contribute to the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.

Brazilian NGO Comissão Pastoral da Terra and French group Notre Affaire À Tous said they filed the lawsuit last week with the Paris judicial court, alleging BNP Paribas did not carry out proper checks before agreeing to finance such companies.

Paris-based BNP Paribas said in statement sent to Reuters that it required its clients to have a "zero deforestation" strategy in their production and supply chains by 2025...

BNP Paribas said it required "full traceability" from its clients regarding their supply chains of beef and soy from the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado. It pledged to no longer provide financial products or services to those that do not agree to...

"Simply ceasing to finance these actors would have no positive impact on their practices, as they would continue to rely on a largely sufficient number of lenders for their activity," it added.