A letter of concern has been sent to Estonian company Est-For Invest, signed by the Environmental Paper Network (EPN) in support of a dozen Estonian environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The Est-For pulp mill project in Estonia is a planned biorefinery, projected to launch production in 2022, that will produce energy and pulp. If built, the Est-For biorefinery will produce an annual output of 700,000 tonnes of pulp, and consume 2.5 to 4 million cubic metres of wood per year, for many decades - an enormous amount in the Estonian…

The annual meeting of the Equator Principles, to be held on 24th and 25th October in São Paulo, is under more pressure than ever before as more than 55,000 people and 220 groups join a call to action for a significant revision to the standards. The civil society watchdog BankTrack today wrote to the 91 bank signatories of the Equator Principles warning that inaction at the meeting “cannot be an option”.  The Equator Principles are a set of voluntary standards signed by 91 financial institutions, mostly private…

Friends of the Earth France and BankTrack have strongly welcomed the new commitments of French bank BNP Paribas to help accelerate the energy transition and drastically reduce its financing of so called unconventional fossil fuels: tar sands, shale gas, oil and gas exploration projects in the Arctic region, as well as all related infrastructure for transport and export [1]. Both organisations call upon other banks to follow BNP Paribas’ lead and also take steps to reduce their financing of unconventional fossil fuels, starting at the upcoming…

350.org Japan has revealed how Japan’s seven biggest banks are inadequately prepared to meet the rising demand for environmentally responsible banking practices. Six of seven banks responded with dissatisfying answers to the My Bank My Future petition which urged banks to stop funding fossil fuels and nuclear power in line with the Paris Agreement. The petition letter, signed by over 1000 individual account holders and delivered on September 22, urged the recipient banks to i) disclose investments and lending to fossil fuel and…

From September 30th through October 14th, 2017, a delegation of Indigenous women from across the United States, who have been at the forefront of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) resistance effort and other movements to stop fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure which pose threats to Indigenous and human rights, self-determination, lands and culture, will travel to Norway, Switzerland and Germany. The delegation will urge financial institutions to divest from and cancel credit facilities with pipeline companies that endanger rights and neglect…