Saturday 8 August 2015

England's Standard Chartered Bank reconsidering ties with Adani coal

*Update: the bank has now pulled out altogether citing "reputational damage".

Standard Chartered Bank in England is now reconsidering it's role in the mining of the Galilee Basin inland from the middle of the Great Barrier Reef. This is the wake of the Commonwealth Bank (the biggest resources lender in Australia) pulling out of the project, and the Australian Federal Court ruling that so called "environment minister" Greg Hunt didn't fully look into the impacts of the mine on the environment.

Abbott and Co are calling the Federal Court decision a "hickup". Really? If they can't finance it it wouldn't matter WTF Abbott said would it. And the finance side of it appears to be falling down like a house of cards.
While attending the bank’s annual general meeting in London, chairman Sir John Peace said: “We will go no further with this project until we are fully satisfied with all the environmental aspects.” He said the bank was in “active discussion” with the Australian government and ready to meet green campaigners. 

But Peace declined to answer questions on Standard Chartered’s ties with Adani. A senior executive at Adani’s Australian mining subsidiary told a Queensland court last month that Standard Chartered had lent it $680m (£448m) for the project – calling into question the bank’s official statements that it is not a lender. 

Sebastian Bock, investment campaigner at Greenpeace, said it was clear the bank was not ready to answer questions at the shareholder meeting, but welcomed its readiness to look again at the project. “It is quite encouraging to see that the bank has started an internal discussion on this project. We will really have to see what they will put on the table. Policies are great, but in the end it all comes down to how they are implemented.” 

At the meeting, one shareholder, who identified himself as a Methodist minister, called on Standard Chartered to drop all fossil fuel investment. “Many church bodies are beginning to divest in coal and tar sands and I would urge you to do the same.” 

Last week the Church of England announced it was moving its money out of the most-polluting fossil fuels, while the Methodists have ruled out future investments in coal and tar sands. more  

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