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Thirty major private banks, including U.S. giants Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, and European powerhouses ABN Amro, Barclays, HSBC and ING, have so far signed on to the principles. The guidelines cover some 80% of the global-project-financing market, according to Jon Williams, head of sustainability risk management at HSBC. "Everyone is interested in the balance between sustainability and economic development," says Williams. "We believe you can do well and do good...
...expect the campaigning to stop just yet, though. In a scathing report published last year, "Principles, Profit or Just PR?", BankTrack accused many companies of failing to deliver on their lofty principles. The report highlighted the decision by nine Equator Principles banks--including ABN Amro, Italy's Banca Intesa and Citigroup--to fund BP's controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which will run through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to bring Caspian Sea oil to the West. The project, argued BankTrack, violates the Equator Principles in key areas, notably in regard to protection of indigenous peoples. BankTrack suggested the Turkish...
...introduction of new industry standards such as the Equator Principles, which "promote responsible environmental stewardship and socially responsible development" by evaluating the threats projects pose to forests, natural habitats and indigenous populations. Thirty major private banks, including U.S. giants Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, and European powerhouses ABN Amro, Barclays, HSBC and ING, have so far signed up to the principles. According to Jon Williams, head of sustainability risk management at HSBC, the guidelines now cover some 80% of the global project-financing market. "Everyone is interested in the balance between sustainability and economic development," Williams says...
...expect the campaigning to stop just yet, though. In a scathing report published last year entitled Principles, Profit or Just PR?, BankTrack accused many firms of failing to deliver on their lofty principles. The report highlighted the decision by nine Equator Principles banks - including ABN Amro, Italy's Banca Intesa and Citigroup - to fund BP's controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which will run through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to bring Caspian Sea oil to the West. The project, argued BankTrack, violates the Equator Principles in key areas, notably in regard to the protection of indigenous peoples...
...Despite these differences, banks and ngos are likely to keep working together. The reason is simple: socially and environmentally responsible investment makes good business sense. HSBC, Citigroup and ABN Amro all say that green issues are increasingly important when they consider funding global projects. In the future, "the Equator Principles will be seen as a catalyst for how banks conduct themselves in other areas of their business," says ABN Amro's Burrett. If that happens, activists in haz-mat suits will have to find another target...