Transforming Finance: From Risk to Responsibility

The pulp and biomass industries depend on billions in financing and subsidies — yet these funds too often flow to projects that accelerate forest loss, fuel land conflicts, and violate community and Indigenous rights.

The good news: pressure is building for more responsible finance, and civil society is making that pressure smarter and stronger.

What We Do

EPN holds financiers accountable and empowers civil society to protect forests and communities. We bring together campaigners, researchers, and allies focused on both the pulp and paper sector and the fast-growing biomass industry, which is increasingly promoted as “green energy” despite its heavy reliance on industrial logging and its pollution.

Our network works together to:

  • Expose how banks, insurers, and investors fund harmful pulp and biomass projects
  • Mobilize pressure on financial institutions to stop financing forest destruction and rights violations
  • Track new pulp and biomass developments and share early warnings across regions
  • Challenge subsidies and public financing that falsely brand destructive projects as climate solutions
  • Equip campaigners with tools and training to use finance as a lever for change
  • Support investors in shifting away from high-risk companies and projects
  • Amplify voices, research, and campaigns that demand forest- and rights-based finance

EPN urges financial institutions to adopt and implement strong, public no-deforestation and rights-based financing policies.

Our shared guidance, Do Not Cross: Red Lines in Pulp and Paper, provides an extensive list of social and environmental due diligence criteria for financial institutions active in the pulp and paper industry.

These include (1) overall systemic criteria; (2) internal regulatory and governance criteria; (3) social requirements; and (4) environmental requirements. This resource is designed to help investors understand and avoid projects and companies with a high level of risk due to their negative environmental and social impacts.

Our In the Red assessments in 2017 and 2020 exposed just how far most banks were from meeting basic environmental and social standards. Those findings helped sharpen civil society campaigns and inform investor engagement. Today, thanks to growing public and investor pressure, change is underway — and we’re working to accelerate the shift.

We also work closely with Forests & Finance, a civil society initiative that tracks financial relationships and improves transparency in the pulp, palm oil, rubber, soy, beef, and biomass sectors. Their public database includes information about loans, bonds, and shareholdings linked to major forest-risk companies in Southeast Asia, Brazil, and the DRC.

More detail on company and project profiles can be found through our partner BankTrack’s database of Dodgy Deals, including on Asia Pulp & Paper, APRIL, Suzano, UPM and others.

Why This Work Matters Now

Massive new pulp and biomass projects are moving forward across the globe — often in places where forests are already under pressure and communities face serious risks.

Many of these projects are propped up by public subsidies and incentives — often justified as “green” or “renewable” despite clear evidence of ecological and community harm and false climate benefits. At the same time, financial institutions are facing greater scrutiny and demand for climate-aligned, rights-respecting policies.

This creates a critical window of opportunity: by targeting the flow of finance, we can slow deforestation and community rights violations, prevent harmful projects before they break ground, and redirect investment toward real climate and community solutions.

EPN empowers civil society to seize that opportunity with credible data, connected campaigns, and a growing network of skilled advocates.

No pulp mill gets built without major financing — and no financier should back a project that destroys forests or violates rights. We’re here to make sure they know that.

Environmental Paper Network

Get Involved

EPN’s Pulp and Biomass Finance Working Groups are collaborative hubs for strategizing, skillsharing, and collective action. Whether you’re a finance campaigner, forest advocate, or just curious about this work, we welcome your participation.

To learn more or join the group, contact Augustyn Mikos: at augustyn@environmentalpaper.org