On this International Women’s Day, Santander’s Sustainability Head Must Protect Amazonia

Thousands of kilometers, an ocean, and many conditions and choices separate the lives of Lara de Mesa and Valentina García. Lara was born in Spain and Valentina in an Amazonian country, which already allows us to imagine how different their paths have been so far. In the case of Lara, we can identify her by her real name, whereas for Valentina we have to use an alias for security reasons. They sit on opposite sides of the fossil fuel arena: Lara is Global Head of Responsible Banking at Santander—the largest European financier of Amazon oil and gas, and fourth largest worldwide—and Valentina is an Indigenous leader who is fighting extractivism in her territory. 

However, there is more in common between them than meets the eye. They occupy leadership positions that have historically been dominated by men, and have certainly had to fight many battles within their respective institutions to achieve the roles they currently have. The two dream of a sustainable world and, although in very different proportions, both are severely impacted by the environmental emergency in the Amazon.

The world’s largest rainforest is approaching a tipping point crisis, which is greatly fueled by extractivist industries, including oil and gas. In addition to its environmental impact through countless cases of oil spills, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, the sector has a long history of violating the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the Amazon. Women like Valentina, who are at the forefront of the fight for the conservation of the forest, are disproportionately affected by this crisis.

The impacts of the destruction of the Amazon go beyond its borders. The Amazon rainforest is one of the world’s largest carbon sinks. Storing the equivalent of almost two years of global carbon emissions, it plays a vital role to stabilize the global climate. Scientists have been warning that the conservation of the Amazon is fundamental not only for compliance with international climate agreements, but also for the very future of humanity. 

If Lara de Mesa knew Valentina’s struggle, would she stand with Indigenous women in the Amazon?

Santander, be a champion for the Amazon

Santander has provided almost $1.4 billion in direct financing to the oil and gas sector operating in the Amazon in the last 15 years, of which $946,671,003 was provided since 2018 when Lara de Mesa became the bank’s sustainability leader. The Spanish bank is behind the financing of the Talara Refinery’s upgrade, in Peru, which will increase crude processing—including from oil Block 64, where extraction has been fiercely opposed by the Achuar and Wampis People for over 10 years now. In Brazil, it has provided financing for a major project extracting gas from Azulão Field, which is located in a territory that is home to ethnic groups Mura, Munduruku, and Gaviões, as well as to Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation.

On this International Women’s Day, Stand.earth joins WeMove and Eko to call on Lara de Mesa to use her leadership to ensure Santander stops financing the destruction of the Amazon. 

Stand.earth’s Greenwashing the Amazon report shows that Santander has one of the most extensive exclusion policies among the six global banks assessed, covering 16% of the Amazon with prohibitions and 24% with restrictions of financing oil and gas in UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Ramsar sites, and some IUCN protected areas. This means that Santander leaves 60% of the Amazonian territory vulnerable, with no risk management for climate change, biodiversity, forest cover, and Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights. At the same time, 85% of its transactions traced directly to the Amazon are structured in a way that minimizes the application of these, already weak, policies.

In recent years, global banks like HSBC, Barclays and BNP Paribas have made commitments to exclude oil and gas financing from the Amazon, which has shown a positive reduction in financial flows to the sector so far. Santander has the opportunity to follow suit.