Australia is a global deforestation hotspot, and the big banks are using your money to fund the destruction
We’ve just finished our third investigation into which banks are still bankrolling the destruction of our Aussie bush, and what we’ve found is shocking. We identified 82 cases of deforestation that we can link to major Australian banks through mortgages, totalling up to 16,540 hectares of deforestation. That’s an area of land roughly equivalent to 4,125 MCGs!
The banking sector in Australia is worth about $5.8 trillion which gives them a massive amount of power and influence. Disappointingly, what our report has shown is that instead of using that power and influence for good, they’re continuing to turn a blind eye to the destruction of our precious forests that they bankroll with our money.
See how your bank stacks up
Where clearing was identified
NABCommBankANZBendigo BankWestpacRabobankOther
Given known historical rates of deforestation in Australia, we can presume that far more deforestation occurred in this period than was identified in this investigation.
Figures referencing ANZ include existing mortgages with Suncorp given its acquisition in 2024
Here are some of the top things we found in our latest report:
- NAB was linked to the most hectares of forest demolition, followed by CommBank, ANZ, Bendigo Bank, Westpac and Rabobank.
- New South Wales and Queensland continue to be deforestation hotspots, with 94% of the total cases found taking place in these states.
- Of all 16,540 hectares of deforestation, 99% of the hectares cleared were linked to agriculture
- Mapped habitat for dozens of threatened species was impacted, with koalas, greater gliders and grey falcons among the most affected.
- The emissions from the financed deforestation exceeded 11 million tonnes, which was greater than the decrease in Australia’s national emissions in the 2025 financial year
- Thirty-two of the 82 cases have already been reported to authorities for potential breaches of federal and/or state laws.
- There’s a growing global momentum to stamp out deforestation and by doing nothing, Australia runs the risk of falling behind. 41% of the largest financial institutions globally have set a deforestation-free commitment, and yet no Australian bank has made any such commitment.
How ACF identified financed deforestation
We identified these cases through a mix of ACF's crowdsourced investigations tool, our early detection tool and targeted surveys of at-risk areas. Each case was verified by our in-house team of environmental investigators. Most of the cases of financed deforestation on we found occurred in 2025 and the first half of 2026, while some cases involved clearing over several years.
ANZ
- Estimated deforestation:
- 47 hectares
- Approximate duration of clearing:
- November 2025 to January 2026
- Mortgage date:
- 25 November 2025
- Location:
- South East Queensland
- EPBC approval:
- No
- Post-reform clearing:
- Yes
ACF identified over 50 hectares of land clearing, with over 47 hectares meeting the threshold for deforestation. The property is owned by an investment company that obtained a mortgage from ANZ just as the clearing commenced. Approximately 30% of the cleared vegetation is mapped as remnant and core koala habitat by the Queensland Government. A search of records within a 10-km radius of the clearing shows dozens of records of koalas, most recently from June 2025.
CommBank
- Estimated deforestation:
- 2,506 hectares
- Approximate duration of clearing:
- January 2022 to June 2026
- Mortgage date:
- 6 December 2016
- Location:
- Cobar Peneplain, New South Wales
- EPBC approval:
- No
- Post-reform clearing:
- Yes
ACF identified over 3,000 hectares of land clearing at a pastoral station in outback NSW, with 2,417 hectares cleared after the reforms to the EPBC Act. Of that, 2,506 hectares were consistent with deforestation, which is equivalent to almost nine Sydney CBDs. This included habitat for endangered pink cockatoos with multiple records within 5km of the clearing site.
NAB
- Estimated deforestation:
- 16 hectares
- Approximate duration of clearing:
- April to May 2026
- Mortgage date:
- 7 May 2026
- Location:
- South East Queensland
- EPBC approval:
- No
- Post-reform clearing:
- Yes
ACF identified that 16 hectares of native vegetation was cleared for a residential development, destroying 15 hectares of koala habitat and fragmenting a larger corridor by introducing a barrier across a creek line. The mortgage was obtained after the bulldozing commenced, and before it concluded. Of the impacted vegetation, 9.5 hectares was mapped as core koala habitat and there are 56 records of koalas within a 5km radius of the clearing footprint.
Behind the numbers
The following case studies involved post-reform deforestation of threatened species habitat. Two of the case studies have been reported for possible breaches of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity (EPBC) Act.
CommBank
Cobar Peneplain
NAB
South East Queensland
Call out the big banks
We've already started mobilising everyday Australians to speak out on financed deforestation. Through shareholder resolutions at ANZ, NAB and Commonwealth bank and thousands of emails sent by everyday Australians to the Big Four banks, we're sending a clear message to corporate Australia that protecting nature should be the bare minimum of doing business in this country.
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