World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has released a new open-access Environmental Crime Financial Toolkit to help institutions better minimize exposure to financial crime.
The platform, developed in collaboration with anti-money laundering software specialists Themis, will help firms detect and monitor potential criminal activity relating to land conversion and deforestation and improve client screening capabilities.
Financing of commercial activity relating to commodities like minerals, rubber, palm oil, and timber can expose institutions to illicit financial flows as well as related crimes such as bribery, tax evasion and trafficking.
The need to assist financial institutions with minimizing their exposure to these activities was highlighted by a recent survey conducted by WWF and Themis which found that over 60% of financial services professionals admitted that their firm’s land conversion risk policy either did not exist or was not yet in place.
“The private sector, especially financial services, has a unique opportunity to help restore our natural world,” said WWF-UK CEO Tanya Steele. “The new Environmental Crime Financial Toolkit will help institutions understand these risks and take action to mitigate illegal deforestation and land conversion.”
“Extensive convergence between environmental crime and other financial crimes can expose firms to serious legal and regulatory risks,” said Themis CEO, Dickon Johnstone. “Our hope is that this Environmental Crime Financial Toolkit will help firms to understand and mitigate these risks, thereby protecting themselves and wider society and the environment from the devastating impacts of environmental crime.”
