ABN/Amro

Een al wat ouder bericht, maar toch actueel. Inter Press Service bericht: 'ENVIRONMENT: Dutch Bank Urged to Pass on Russian Oil Project The giant Dutch bank ABN Amro, one of the world's largest financial institutions, is facing charges of "environmental hypocrisy" from green groups concerned over the bank's possible financing for a controversial Russian oil extraction project. The accusations came on the eve of a ceremony in which ABN Amro was scheduled to accept the 2006 Gold Medal Award for "International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development" from the World Environment Centre, a Washington-based industry-backed organisation. But three conservation groups, Rainforest Action Network, Pacific Environment and Sakhalin Environment Watch, ran a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post Thursday condemning the bank's bidding to fund the Sakhalin II oil and gas project , which they consider "one of the most environmentally and socially destructive projects in history". Sakhalin II is a 20-billion-dollar project that aims to extract oil and gas from beneath the coast of far eastern Russia's Sakhalin Island. The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is leading the investment on the island, which is estimated to have reserves of 45 billion barrels of equivalent oil and gas -- the same amount of remaining reserves in the North Sea. The company is seeking up to five billion dollars in financing for the project. Citing reluctance from other banks to fund the project for its potential environmental damage and a firestorm of criticism from green organisations, the groups called on AMN Amro not to fund the project. Environmentalists say that the project will harm marine life and several endangered species, including the world's 100 remaining western grey whales, as well as the local fishing community and indigenous people in the fragile area.' Lees verder: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33225