J.P. Morgan caves in to environmentalists...

The Rainforest Action Network is smiling today. J.P. Morgan has just announced new environmental guidelines for its lending.

The policy sets new best practices on the environment in several critical areas including carbon mitigation and reduction, endangered forest protection, independently certified sustainable forestry as well as land and consultation rights of native communities everywhere. It is the first policy of its kind in the financial sector to create a special heading acknowledging "No Go Zones," a major step forward in the effort to protect ecosystems that are most valuable intact and untouched by industry.

Developed in cooperation with groups including Rainforest Action Network, the new policy marks another environmental milestone in the private financial sector and follows the adoption of similar policies by Citigroup and Bank of America last year. Major advances include:

-- Global Warming: JPMorgan Chase will encourage clients to develop carbon mitigation plans that include measurement and disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions as well as plans to reduce or offset them. In a financial industry first, the bank will internalize carbon pollution for power sector projects by integrating the financial cost of greenhouse gas emissions into its analysis.

-- Sustainable Forestry Certification: The policy makes JPMorgan Chase the first private bank to state a preference for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.

-- Illegal Logging: The policy will require JPMorgan Chase clients that "process, purchase or trade" forest products from high-risk countries to have certifiable chain of custody systems in place to ensure that the wood comes from legal sources.

-- Human Rights: The bank recognizes the right of indigenous individuals and communities to "self determination over issues affecting their lands and territories, traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used."

-- Project Finance: JPMorgan Chase joins the Equator Principles, lowers the application threshold to $10 million, and broadens the scope to include "all loans, debt and equity underwriting, financial advisories and project-linked derivative transactions," specifically naming the mining, forestry, and oil and gas industries.

-- Private Equity Risk Management: The policy marks the first time that any financial institution has integrated environmental risk management into the due diligence process for its private equity divisions.

-- Leadership on Public Policy: In another industry first, JPMorgan Chase has agreed to arrange cooperative meetings with other financial institutions to advocate for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and "focus on specific projects to alter the emissions trajectory of the US economy."

Nothing like mixing junk science with bad banking.