Spotlight on the Climate Journalism Award winners: Emerging talent, 'Santander arranged billion-dollar oil bond after making green pledge'

Despite flaunting their commitment to environmental and climate protection policies, these banks’ actions reveal a concerning gap between commitments on paper and reality: Santander and HSBC appear to be involved in financing PetroPerú, the Peruvian state oil company responsible for refining and marketing crude oil. Specifically, they have facilitated a million-dollar bond deal to fund the construction of a refinery in the environmentally sensitive area of the Pastaza River complex, the largest wetland in Peru. 

In this vast complex of nearly 4 million hectares, the largest Ramsar Site in the Amazon, PetroPerú's leaking pipelines have been polluting the surrounding environment, damaging both wildlife and local communities.

The investigation was conducted with insights from experts at Amazon Watch and the Green Finance Observatory, and with a particular dedication to examining financial documents in detail.

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