BANKS DODGY DEALS CAMPAIGNS
About BankTrack
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Jobs at BankTrack
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
History
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2023-03-17 00:00:00
Briefing: The role of financial institutions in decarbonising the steel sector
2023-03-09 00:00:00
Dutch bank ING supports controversial pipeline to import gas from authoritarian Azerbaijan
2023-02-23 00:00:00
Financial institutions need to address steelmaking’s coal addiction
2023-02-07 00:00:00
What COP15 means for banks: meeting the Global Biodiversity Framework requires protecting Indigenous rights and divesting from harmful industries
2023-03-28 13:43:00
French bank Société Générale withdraws from Rio Grande LNG
2023-03-20 08:50:41
Who dares to finance Eni and Exxon’s dangerous Rovuma gas plans in Mozambique?
2023-03-14 14:59:00
New ING policy could spark bank shift away from financing oil and gas infrastructure
2023-02-24 13:46:14
Pego power station conversion plans halted
Connect
2022-11-22 00:00:00
Banking on Thin Ice: Two years in the heat
2022-11-17 00:00:00
BankTrack Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022
2022-10-21 00:00:00
Burning forests in the name of clean energy? How banks are failing to exclude the harmful wood biomass industry from finance
2022-06-28 00:00:00
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP): Finance Risk Update No. 3
2022-04-05 00:00:00
The BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark Asia
2022-03-30 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Chaos 2022
See all publications
Sections
Banks Dodgy Deals Campaigns
Our campaigns
Banks and Climate
Banks and Human Rights
Banks and Nature
Banks and Pandemics
Our projects
Tracking the NZBA
Banks and Putin's war in Ukraine
Tracking the Equator Principles
Tracking the PRBs
Banks and steel
Find a Better Bank
Banks and the OECD Guidelines
Media
News Publications
Fossil Banks No Thanks StopEACOP Forests & Finance Banks & Biodiversity Drop JBS Bank of Coal Don't Buy into Occupation
BankTrack
About BankTrack Visit us Organisation Our team Our board Guiding principles Team up with us Jobs at BankTrack Our annual reports Funding and finances History BankTrack in the media Our privacy policy Donate
Successes Contact BankTrack
Donate Mailing list Facebook Twitter Login
Home › Partner news ›
Partner News

International coalition denounces Calyon for its support to Finnish papermill Botnia in Uruguay

2006-05-18 | Paris, France
By: CEDHA
Contact:

Jorge Daniel Taillant. Centro de Derechos Humanos y Ambiente (CEDHA)
Tel. cel. 54 9 351 625 3290
jdtaillant@cedha.org.ar

2006-05-18 | Paris, France
By: CEDHA
Contact:

Jorge Daniel Taillant. Centro de Derechos Humanos y Ambiente (CEDHA)
Tel. cel. 54 9 351 625 3290
jdtaillant@cedha.org.ar

Nine organizations including broad civil society networks in 6 countries, filed a complaint today against Calyon, the international financial investment arm of Crédit Agricole of France, for violations of the Equator Principles, in Calyon's support of the highly controversial Finnish papermill in Uruguay in construction by Botnia. The complaint was modeled after an earlier complaint presented to ING Group of Netherlands, soon after which ING withdrew US$480 million in pledged support to Botnia. The filing will be followed by public protests outside of the French Embassy in Buenos Aires, the headquarters of Calyon and Crédit Agricole in Paris, and launches what will be a rigorous international campaign against Calyon and Crédit Agricole to withdraw its support to the mills being constructed on the Uruguay River, the natural waterway border between Argentina and Uruguay.

The complaint was discussed and prepared in collaboration between the 9 institutions, in 6 countries and consists of 17 pages of evidence that Botnia does not comply with the Social and Environmental Safeguards of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and suggests that if Calyon finances Botnia, it will be complicit in violations of human rights and environmental law. These violations have been denounced on numerous occasions by citizens of Gualeguaychú, the Argentine community across the river from the plant site, by CEDHA, by numerous Uruguayan NGOs, by the Argentine government. The CAO (the Compliance Ombudsman of the IFC) later confirmed many of these accusations, and more recently, consultants hired by the World Bank to review cumulative impact studies done by Botnia and ENCE (a second Spanish mill) suggested that on many fronts, the EIAs are inconclusive and further study is needed. A few weeks ago, President Vasquez of Uruguay met with Paul Wolfovitz, president of the World Bank, requesting that the Bank speed up the approval process for the loans, however, and surprisingly, Wolfovitz's answer was less than promising, indicating for the first time,that the Bank WOULD NOT finance these mills for now, since there is no certainty over environmental and social impacts. Vasquez walked away empty-handed.

Calyon claims to be one of the more responsible French banks on corporate social responsibility, and boasts that it is one of the first banks to sign the Equator Principles, an agreement amongst 40+ international banks that promise to invest responsibly and respect IFC's Social and Environmental safeguards. ING Group of the Netherlands withdrew US$480 million pledges to Botnia due to the inconsistencies of the Finnish project with IFC Safeguards, although they would never admit this is the reason, since they might face lawsuits from Botnia.

"It is unfortunate", says Johan Frijns, coordinator of BankTrack (an NGO network that has been working closely with groups in Argentina on advocacy before the financial backers of the Botnia and ENCE mills), "that Calyon, another Equator Bank, has stepped into this arrangement. ING did the right thing and pulled its investments."

Friends of the Earth Uruguay (Redes), Friends of the Earth Argentina, FOE International, Friends of the Earth Finland, Amis de la Terre France, along with CEDHA of Argentina, Banktrack - Netherlands, Guayubira of Uruguay, and the World Rainforest Movement united forces to confront Calyon. The complaint and advocacy action to follow is in close collaboration with the Citizens Environmental Assembly of Gualeguaychú, who protested yesterday before the Swedish Embassy in Buenos Aires, against the Swedish based NORDEA, also for its support to Botnia. Protests will now move in the next few days to the French Embassy, and with help from European based groups, to Calyon and Crédit Agricole offices in Paris.

A nascent international civil society movement is emerging bringing together organizations, networks and other advocates like Ecologistas en Acción of Spain who are pursing Spanish financing to ENCE, fueling the fire already burning on this international controversy. At the recent EU-Latin American Summit in Vienna, Argentine president Nestor Kirchner slammed European governments for exporting contaminating industries to developing countries.

Growing international opposition against these mills promises a bleak future for Botnia and its financial supporters like Calyon and NORDEA. Calyon will have to face being seen as the black sheep of the Equator Banks, something that will surely hurt its public image, and its intentions to be seen as the "good" and "responsible" French Bank.

Read the letter of compliant here.
Banks

Crédit Agricole

France
Active

Nordea

Finland
Active
Dodgy Deals
There are no active project profiles for this item now.

Botnia pulp and paper mill

Uruguay
Project
On record
Pulp, Paper and Paperboard Mills

Botnia pulp and paper mill

Uruguay
Sections
Banks Policies Dodgy Deals Campaigns
Our campaigns
Banks and Climate Banks and Human Rights Banks and Nature Banks and Pandemics
Our projects
Tracking the NZBA Banks and Putin's war in Ukraine Tracking the Equator Principles Tracking the PRBs Banks and steel Find a Better Bank Banks and the OECD Guidelines
Media
News Publications
Fossil Banks No Thanks StopEACOP Forests & Finance Banks & Biodiversity Drop JBS Bank of Coal Don't Buy into Occupation
BankTrack
About BankTrack Visit us Organisation Our team Our board Guiding principles Team up with us Jobs at BankTrack Our annual reports Funding and finances History BankTrack in the media Our privacy policy Donate
Successes Contact BankTrack
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 24 324 9220
Contact@banktrack.org
Donate Mailing list Facebook Twitter
©2022 BankTrack
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