Grote banken als JP Morgan Chase (ook met kantoor in Nederland) en Wells Fargo (en als ik me niet vergis ING) hebben de zogenaamde Equator Principles getekend. Dit betekent dat ze bij de financiering van grote infrastructurele projecten rekening houden met de sociale aanvaardbaarheid van dergelijke projecten (waarbij de belangen van de oorspronkelijke bewoners in acht moeten worden genomen) en moeten proberen te voorkomen dat de klimaatverandering verder wordt aangejaagd. Er zijn meer voorwaarden aan de Equator Priciples verbonden, verderop vindt u een meer uitgebreide uitleg, het komt erop neer dat die banken in feite duurzaamheid voorop moeten stellen bij voornoemde financieringen.
‘Vreemd’ dat die ondertekenaars met het grootste gemak smerige projecten steunen, zoals de Dakota Acces Pipeline (DAPL)……… Vreemd tussen aanhalingstekens, daar het de normaalste zaak van de wereld is geworden dat grote smerige bedrijven zich met het grootste gemak duurzaam durven te noemen.
Van 23 tot 25 oktober a.s. vindt er een overleg in Brazilië plaats van de banken die de Equator Principles hebben getekend, tijd dat de banken daar wordt gewezen op hun verantwoordelijkheid.
De volgende tekst behoort bij een petitie die ik afgelopen woensdag ontving van Rainforest Action Network (RAN), lees en teken de petitie ajb en wijs de grote banken daarmee op hun verantwoordelijkheid die ze dragen (als u Netherlands zoekt in de landenlijst, deze staat als tweede genoemd en dus niet op alfabetische volgorde):
Tell Big Banks: Protect Climate and Indigenous rights!
Did you know that big banks funded the disastrous Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) under the Equator Principles* — the supposedly premier guidelines for responsible lending practices?
This is a problem. Tell the Equator Banks to make a change.
The Equator Principles didn’t stop banks like Wells Fargo from financing DAPL. They didn’t stop banks like JPMorgan Chase from financing the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline. Despite enormous impacts on our shared climate, and unacceptable abuses of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, disaster projects like these have all been financed under the Equator Principles.
Equator Banks, act! Stop financing climate disasters, and respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights and territories.
This October, over 90 of the world’s largest banks will meet in Brazil to discuss their commitments under the Equator Principles, a collectively agreed set of rules for responsible financing of big infrastructure projects. We are teaming up with hundreds of other organizations to demand that the Equator Banks commit to stop financing climate disasters and fully respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights and territories.
Join us: tell the Equator Banks to act on climate and Indigenous rights.
We need thousands of people like you to add their name to the petition. We will deliver this petition ahead of their October meeting.
Add your name now!
Stop Financing Climate Disasters, Respect Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Territories
This October, over ninety of the world’s largest banks will meet in Brazil to discuss their commitments under the Equator Principles, a collectively agreed set of rules for financing big infrastructure projects. These ‘Equator Banks’ have all promised to finance such projects in a ‘socially responsible manner’ and to avoid negative impacts on climate change wherever possible.
It sounds good, but it’s not working.
The Principles as they are written now are not stopping banks from financing disaster projects that have a devastating impact on the climate. Coal power plants, coal mines, tar sands exploration and transport, oil pipelines, LNG plants, deepwater oil rigs, exploration projects in the Arctic and more, have all qualified for bank lending under the Equator Principles.
Nor are these Principles stopping banks from financing disaster projects that trample on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, fully recognised in international law, to reject projects they do not want on their traditional territories. From the Americas to Australia, Indigenous Peoples find themselves on the front line of struggles against fossil fuel extraction and transport projects, but also large hydro and other infrastructure projects that threaten their lands and traditional way of life.
The Dakota Access Pipeline in the United States, fiercely opposed by the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Lakota Tribes, and the Agua Zarca hydro project in Honduras, where Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres was murdered for leading the Lenca people’s opposition to the project, are but two examples of projects financed by banks under the Equator Principles.
What good are such Principles when they allow these disaster projects to be built?
We demand that at their meeting this October, Equator Banks commit to a new set of Principles that stops the financing of climate disasters and fully respects Indigenous Peoples’ rights and territories.
Please read our Call to the Equator Banks below, then sign up by using the form.
This October 23-25, 91 banks will meet in São Paulo, Brazil to discuss their social and environmental commitments under the Equator Principles.
While these Principles are to ensure that adopting banks do not finance projects with a large negative impact on people and planet, Equator Banks continue to support projects that pose a massive threat to the world’s climate, such as coal, oil and gas extraction, transportation and power generation projects. Equator Banks also continue to finance fossil fuel and other projects that trample on the rights and interests of Indigenous Peoples.
We are appalled that the Equator Principles as formulated today allow Equator Banks to finance projects that are a disaster for the world’s’ climate and for Indigenous peoples. For the Principles to be a meaningful sustainability commitment they need to be fully overhauled.
We therefore call on the Equator Principles Association to agree in Brazil to a full revision process for the Principles, so that they reflect at minimum two solid commitments:
1. Stop Financing Climate Disasters:
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include a full commitment to the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to below 2 degrees, aiming for 1,5 degrees;
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include stringent and binding criteria that all projects to be financed under the Equator framework be fully aligned with reaching the Paris Agreement goals; and for this reason:
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explicitly exclude all new fossil fuel extraction, transportation and power projects from financing under the Equator Principles.
2. Respect Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Territories:
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include an explicit commitment to respect the right of Indigenous Peoples anywhere in the world to withhold their consent for projects situated on territories they traditionally use and occupy;
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commit to not financing projects, neither directly or indirectly, that did not obtain such consent;
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strengthen due diligence and consultation processes to ensure that Indigenous Peoples’ rights are fully respected;
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ensure that Indigenous Peoples and other project-affected communities have full access to grievance channels with project sponsors and financing banks when their rights and interests are violated.
In Brazil, Equator Banks face a choice between deepening their collective commitment to effectively stop financing climate change and respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights, or see the Equator initiative become irrelevant for meeting the pressing social and environmental challenges the world faces today. We expect that the Equator Banks will act decisively on this call.
Voor het tekenen, hier de link naar de bewuste pagina, waar u aan de rechter kant ‘uw handtekening’ kan zetten.
* The Equator Principles: a collectively agreed set of rules for financing big infrastructure projects. These ‘Equator Banks’ have all promised to finance such projects in a ‘socially responsible manner’ and to avoid negative impacts on climate change wherever possible.
Moet u nagaan: eerst hebben de grote banken een groot deel bvan de wereld in een diepe crisis gestort,blijkbaar is dat niet genoeg en willen de topgraaiers van die banken de wereld zelf om zeep helpen……
ING stapte na langdurig protest uit de DAPL.
Zie ook: ‘Grote banken moeten stoppen met het financieren van klimaatrampen en de rechten van de oorspronkelijke bevolking her en der respecteren!‘
PS: overtreding van de Equator Principles kent geen sanctie, het is dan ook een flut-convenant van de banken, waarmee ze hun smerige investeringen schoon denken te wassen……
