Banks| Dodgy Deals| Map| Campaigns
About us| Blog| Publications| Successes| Contact us| Donate
About BankTrack
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Join our Active Allies list
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
History
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2020-12-22 00:00:00
Blog: In 2020, the Equator Principles struggle to remain relevant
2020-12-14 00:00:00
The battle to stop Line 3 is heating up on the ground and across the US
2020-12-14 00:00:00
Corporate accountability and the just transition: Frameworks for holding corporations accountable for climate change
2020-12-12 00:00:00
Five years since the Paris Agreement, are banks' 2050 pledges enough to reign in fossil fuel finance?
2020-09-24 12:53:20
Oscislowo open-pit coal mine cancelled
2020-09-08 13:07:41
Strengthened OECD guidance on responsible banking
2020-02-25 10:35:27
JPMorgan Chase Coal and Arctic Policy a step forward but fails to match its climate responsibility as the world’s #1 Fossil Bank
2020-02-18 17:27:23
Civil society groups welcome Royal Bank of Scotland preparing to exit fossil fuels
Connect
2020-11-30 00:00:00
Soft Commitments, Hard Lessons: an analysis of the Soft Commodities Compact
2020-11-24 00:00:00
"Trust Us, We're Equator Banks": Part II
2020-11-18 00:00:00
Crude Risk: Risks to banks and investors from the East African Crude Oil Pipeline
2020-09-16 00:00:00
Principles for Paris-Aligned Financial Institutions: Climate Impact, Fossil Fuels and Deforestation
2020-08-17 00:00:00
"Trust Us, We're Equator Banks": Part I
2020-03-18 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Change - Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2020
See all publications
Browse
Home
Banks
Dodgy Deals
Map
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook page
Twitter channel
Home › News
ING bank dumps divisive 1.7 billion paper mill project
Start
Banks
Dodgy Deals

By: CEDHA
2006-04-13
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Contact:

Jorge Daniel Taillant, CEDHA, Ph: + 54 9 351 625 3290, E-mail: jdtaillant@cedha.org.ar Paul de Clerck, FoE International, Ph: + 32 2 5426107, E-mail: paul@milieudefensie.nl Johan Frijns, BankTrack, Ph: + 31 6 12421667, E-mail: coord@banktrack.org


Share this page:

Dutch banking giant ING announced in a letter to Friends of the Earth International, CEDHA and  BankTrack that it is pulling out of a divisive venture opposed by environmentalists and local communities in Uruguay and Argentina.
 
The ING Group wrote in an April 12 letter that its participation in the 1.7 billion USD controversial paper mill project of Finnish company Botnia in Uruguay "is no longer under consideration".
 
The ING Group had an advisory role to the company and was to arrange a  USD 480 million loan package from private banks for the project. The  paper mill has been strongly criticized in Uruguay and Argentina for its severe negative environmental impacts.
 
Botnia has already started to build a paper mill on the Uruguay river, at the border with Argentina. The project will have strong environmental impacts as it will pollute air and water and contribute to the increase in damaging monoculture plantations.
 
 The project has led to hot protests in both countries. Activists built roadblocks on bridges across the river linking the two countries. The project also brought relations between the governments of Argentina and Uruguay to a breaking point, with both governments indicating that they want to bring the case to the International Court of Justice in the Hague for violation of an international treaty governing the Uruguay river.
 
Friends of the Earth International, Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA, from Argentina) and BankTrack told ING that they were going to inform the ING shareholders meeting on April 25, 2006 about the negative impacts of the project.
 
Just two weeks before the ING shareholders meeting, ING informed the three organizations in an April 12 letter that "ING´s advisory and coordinating role has been concluded ... and further participation in the process - whereby funds would be made available to the project - is no longer under consideration".
 
According to Daniel Taillant from CEDHA "This decision is another serious blow for Botnia. Recently the International Finance Corporation, the private arm of the World Bank, announced that it would postpone consideration of loans to the paper mill project until new identified shortcomings of the environmental and social impact studies could be addressed".
 
"We are pleased to see that ING has decided not to finance this controversial project. The paper mill constitutes a clear violation of the Equator Principles for private investments which ING signed on to," according to Paul de Clerck of Friends of the Earth International.
 
"The paper mill is exactly the sort of project that should not pass the Equator Principles test. At a time when major banks debate a revision of the Equator Principles it is a very welcome signal that ING took its social and environmental responsibilities seriously" said Johan Frijns, coordinator of BankTrack.

--------------------------------------




Related banks

ING Netherlands

active

Related Dodgy Deals

Projects

There are no projects active for this item now.
on record

Botnia pulp and paper mill Uruguay

Pulp, Paper and Paperboard Mills
Browse
Home
Banks
Dodgy Deals
Map
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook page
Twitter channel
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Tel: +31 24 324 9220
Contact@banktrack.org
©2016 BankTrack                Webdesign by BankTrack and EASYmind
BankTrack is a registered charity in the Netherlands (ANBI) - RSIN 813874658
Find our privacy policy here

Stay up to date

Sign up now for all BankTrack's news


Make a comment

Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted