BNP Tightens Farmer Lending to Save Amazonian Forests in Brazil

BNP Paribas SA is planning to put more restrictions on its financing to the Brazilian soybean and beef industries in an effort to mitigate Amazonian deforestation.

The French bank will only offer financing to companies with a strategy to achieve zero deforestation in their supply chains by 2025, according to a statement Monday. Brazil is the largest exporter of both products.

Clients cannot produce or buy soy and beef from Amazon land that has been cleared or converted after 2008, and all livestock farmers will be asked to improve animal-welfare standards, it said.

BNP is one of the biggest foreign ...