Banks| Policies| Dodgy Deals| Campaigns
About us| Blog| Publications| Successes| Contact us| Donate
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
2023-01-23 00:00:00
Berta Cáceres: new rules for banks could help stop defender killings
2023-01-16 00:00:00
In the balance: Why European due diligence legislation must cover financial services
2022-12-08 00:00:00
Exposed: Western banks funding Qatar’s carbon bombs
2022-12-08 00:00:00
Right-wing attack on sustainable finance is the latest form of climate denial
2022-12-14 11:08:26
HSBC announces it will no longer finance new oil and gas fields
2022-10-13 15:56:39
More major banks and insurers refuse to support EACOP
2022-09-16 10:38:48
European Parliament passes emergency resolution against human rights violations & environmental threats linked to EACOP
2022-06-27 09:49:16
Crédit Agricole takes first step to phase out from the oil and gas sector
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
Browse
Home
Banks
Policies
Dodgy Deals
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook
Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Instagram
Affiliate Websites
Fossil Banks No Thanks
StopEACOP
Forests & Finance
Banks & Biodiversity
Drop JBS
Bank of Coal
Don't Buy into Occupation
Home › News
Oil projects too far - banks & investors refuse finance for Arctic oil
Start

By: Platform
2012-04-24
London

Contact:

James Marriott


Share this page:

Photo: -
Go to:
Start

West LB have decided not to finance oil & gas development projects in the Arctic and F & C have dropped Arctic oil explorers Cairn from their ethical portfolio.

The German corporate finance & investment bank, West LB, launched a new environmental policy in February and its guidelines are important in relation to the push by oil companies into the Arctic.

Speaking about the policy, Dustin Neuneyer, sustainability manager, group development said: “There are projects that are evidently unsustainable in an encompassing sense. For WestLB, the risks and costs are simply too high.” “The further you get into the icy regions, the more expensive  everything gets and there are risks that are hard to manage, “For example”, he said, “remediation of  any spills ‘would cost a fortune’, and natural processes by which spilt oil would be broken down  are slower or non-existent at freezing temperatures.”

West LB, a very significant debt financer of oil & gas projects, is making a powerful statement here that should make other banks - such as RBS - think about their practices. As Neuneyer states: “Other banks contacted us and are very interested in this approach andPolicy.”

The contrast between West LB and RBS is striking. Platform, along with BankTrack, Indigenous Environment Network and seven other groups, co-signed a letter to RBS in June 2011, calling on the  bank to make policies relating to five key points on greenhouse gas emissions, 'free, prior & informed consent', and lending to coal and tar sands extraction projects. The letter stated: “Our recommendations are being made with reference to significant policy shifts occurring in other international banks, in the hope that the RBS Group can be seen as being a pioneer rather than a laggard in these areas. Our recommendations are practical, possible, deliverable and, above all, necessary.” Sadly we are yet to receive a reply or see any policy outcomes from this process of engagement - hopefully they will be spurred into action by West LB's announcement.

Meanwhile F & C, one of the leading London institutional investors with an SRI fund, has decided to drop its holding of Cairn from its ethical portfolio. For several years it has held Cairn shares as part  of its Stewardship Funds, whilst pointedly refusing to hold either Shell or BP on environmental & social impact grounds. Finally, after the sustained campaign pressure on Cairn's offshore Greenland drilling - led by Greenpeace - F & C have quietly dropped Cairn from the portfolio. Karina Litvack, director of governance and sustainable investment at F & C stated in an article: “Cairn Energy has been removed from our Stewardship range of funds because of its move into Arctic drilling. We feel that the level of environmental and safety management and the levels of oversight by the Greenland Government is not sufficient to give us comfort.”

West LB, based in Dusseldorf and effectively the central savings bank of the states of Nordrhein-Westfalen and Brandenburg, has set a new benchmark for the project finance sector. Platform has contested West LB's decisions in the past - particularly over the financing of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline - but this new policy decision is a really positive step.

In collaboration with Greenpeace UK and Fair Pensions, we're are on the brink of publishing a new report and on the basis of this aim to hold a series of briefings with asset managers and analysts in the finance community in order to encourage other instutional investors and debt financers to  make oil projects in the Arctic, projects too far.

Browse
Home
Banks
Policies
Dodgy Deals
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook
Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Instagram
Affiliate Websites
Fossil Banks No Thanks
StopEACOP
Forests & Finance
Banks & Biodiversity
Drop JBS
Bank of Coal
Don't Buy into Occupation
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