‘We are witnessing ecocide’: Santander accused of funding vast deforestation

In 2024, Spanish bank provided more than $600m in financing to firms linked to beef, palm oil, soya and supply chains driving deforestation, says Global WitnessSergio Rojas recalls how, as a child, he would see bulldozers rolling into Argentina’s Gran Chaco region, razing the forests to the ground and setting the felled trees alight. Animals would scatter and flee, with armadillos, deer, snakes and lizards darting across the ground in search of a new home.The forests of the Gran Chaco were