RAN challenges Japan’s largest bank for failing on climate, human rights, and governance
July 2, 2025 — Tokyo, Japan — Rainforest Action Network (RAN), a U.S.-based environmental NGO headquartered in San Francisco with an office in Tokyo, participated in the annual shareholder meeting of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan’s largest bank. RAN called on MUFG to stop financing fossil fuels and deforestation-driving industries that exacerbate the climate crisis and violate human rights.
Despite shareholder proposals introduced by RAN and allied NGOs being rejected, RAN used its platform during the meeting to press the bank on its continued financial support for harmful projects—most notably the Rio Grande LNG terminal in Texas—and to highlight the bank’s inadequate governance on environmental and human rights issues.
Shareholder Pressure Grows Despite Rejection of Proposals
In April 2025, RAN, along with Market Forces and Kiko Network, submitted shareholder proposals to MUFG and Japan’s two other megabanks. The proposals called for greater transparency around how these institutions assess the climate-related risks of their clients and how audit committees monitor such risks.
At MUFG’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), both proposals—Proposal 3 (disclosure on audit committee assessment of directors’ oversight of risk controls) and Proposal 4 (disclosure of assessment of clients’ climate change transition plans)—were voted down. Still, RAN’s engagement yielded a notable admission: MUFG’s Chief Risk Officer Katsunori Yokomaku confirmed that the bank’s policy is not to provide funding to projects with unresolved human rights violations.
“This is a meaningful step, but still far from enough,” said Toyoyuki Kawakami, Japan Senior Advisor at RAN. “MUFG failed to explain how it will address harms already caused by projects it continues to finance. Their governance systems remain weak, and the bank is failing to uphold its stated commitments to human rights and climate action.”
Outside the AGM: Protests, Petitions, and a Call to Action
Outside the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa in Tokyo—site of the AGM—RAN and allied groups rallied with banners reading “MUFG: Stop Bankrolling Climate Chaos.” They also deployed electric mini-vehicles bearing ads to convey their message.
The mobile ads featured photos of community members from South Texas who oppose the Rio Grande LNG terminal. These same frontline leaders visited Japan in October 2024 to demand that MUFG cut ties with the project’s developer, NextDecade. Despite receiving a formal complaint filed with Japan’s Business and Human Rights Dialogue and Remedy Platform (JaCER), MUFG has taken no meaningful action.
RAN’s online petition urging MUFG to stop funding Rio Grande LNG has garnered over 13,000 signatures to date.
MUFG Among World’s Top Fossil Fuel Financiers
According to the Banking on Climate Chaos 2025 report, MUFG was the world’s fourth-largest fossil fuel financier from 2021–2024—and sixth in 2024 alone. The bank continues to back new oil and gas projects including Rio Grande LNG, Papua LNG, and the Barossa and Scarborough gas fields—despite warnings from the International Energy Agency that any new fossil fuel expansion is incompatible with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target.
MUFG’s continued funding of companies with fossil fuel expansion plans is a direct violation of the Equator Principles, a global benchmark for environmental and social risk management which the bank claims to follow.
“MUFG’s financing of the Rio Grande LNG project—without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe—constitutes a violation of indigenous rights and international standards,” said Kawakami. “This is not just a policy failure; it’s a governance failure.”
Deforestation Links Add to the Risk Profile
MUFG is also the top OECD bank lender to deforestation-linked industries in Southeast Asia, including the pulp and paper and palm oil sectors. In April, RAN revealed that MUFG subsidiary Bank Danamon in Indonesia provided $281 million in financing to a group of palm oil companies responsible for massive forest fires in Indonesian peatlands—climate-critical carbon sinks.
“These companies are environmental and human rights liabilities,” Kawakami added. “MUFG is failing to screen out high-risk clients and continues to finance ecological destruction in some of the world’s most vulnerable ecosystems.”
RAN’s Ongoing Engagement
Following the AGM, RAN reaffirmed its commitment to ongoing engagement with MUFG and other Japanese financial institutions. This includes pushing for stronger climate and human rights safeguards, supporting frontline communities, and demanding corporate accountability.
Learn more and take action at RAN’s campaign hub:
🔗 Spotlight on MUFG – fossilfreejapan.org