Some of the world’s largest banks, including JPMorgan, Standard Chartered and HSBC, may be complicit in projects linked to Saudi Arabia’s green energy boom which are “plagued by migrant worker abuse”, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has warned.

The UK non-profit tracked 40 projects in Saudi Arabia that form part of the country’s renewables industry and interviewed Nepali and Bangladeshi workers employed on nine projects, of which it named five in a report published on Thursday.

The report identified 25 financiers which provided project financing to these projects, including 11 banks that financed at least two.

“I imagine from the responses we’ve received that [banks] see this as a reputational risk, but also a risk to their wider operations”, Catriona Fraser, migrant workers researcher at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, told The Banker.

Standard Chartered, Riyad Bank and Mizuho Financial Group financed all five projects, while Banque Saudi Fransi, Saudi National Bank, HSBC and Saudi Awwal Bank financed four projects.

First Abu Dhabi Bank and Korea Development Bank were among the lenders that financed two projects.

“Where we become aware or are informed of a negative impact in relation to a client entity or transaction . . . we will review and assess the allegation for credibility and where needed engage directly with the client to ensure they have carried out an incident investigation, and if required put in place corrective actions,” a spokesperson for Standard Chartered told The Banker.

Recruitment fee charges, wage theft and unsafe conditions such as extreme heat exposure were among the issues documented across Saudi Arabia’s clean-energy projects, including the multibillion-dollar Neom Green Hydrogen complex.

JPMorgan, MUFG, DZ Bank, BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole were among the banks that financed one project. French lender BNP Paribas could also be complicit in human rights violations in Palestine as a result of the bank’s financing, a UN report warned in July.

Crédit Agricole is “extremely concerned” to learn about the alleged labour rights abuses, a spokesperson for the bank told The Banker. “The bank expects its corporate clients to develop good working practices and business ethics to limit their environmental and social impacts,” they said.

All the banks have been approached for comment.

As part of its research, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre interviewed 34 workers who revealed “systemic exploitation”.

Fraser acknowledged the small sample of interviewees but said the high correlation between projects and workers’ experiences is “particularly striking” and demonstrated widespread systemic issues.

Migrant workers described being treated “like machines”, with more than half of those interviewed reporting at least five indicators of forced labour, as defined by the International Labour Organization.

All of the interviewees reported paying recruitment fees of up to $7,700, around four times their monthly wage.

The average reported monthly salary was just over $370, rising to $474 with overtime, less than half of the $1,066 minimum wage for Saudi nationals.

ACWA Power, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, is the developer on all five projects alongside global partners such as Air Products, Saudi Aramco, Badeel and PowerChina.

The most “obvious risk” is reputational risk, Fraser said, however there have also been worker protests which suggest a further risk to projects being delayed and a possible “fiscal impact” for financiers.

“With the coming years promising to bring substantial increases in renewables investment across Saudi Arabia, multinationals and global banks powering these projects must open their eyes to the very real human cost of the Kingdom’s green energy boom,” Fraser said.

ACWA Power has also been approached for comment.