A Fork in the Road to Sustainability
// April 27th, 2006 // 3 Comments » // World Issues
Earlier today a giant inflatable whale was erected in front of our building- the headquarters of ABN AMRO. A number of hours later our communications department have published a message on the department news site.
“Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have staged a peaceful protest outside our headquarters in Amsterdam today, to coincide with the annual shareholders’ meeting. ABN AMRO said it did not object to the demonstration taking place.
The centre-piece of the demonstration, which concerns the Sakhalin project in east Russia, was a model whale measuring six metres in height and 18 metres in length. The protestors argue that the Sakhalin II Phase 2 oil project will harm the environment, and hope that ABN AMRO will decide not to give it backing.
At present, the bank is still deciding whether or not it will help to finance the project. A final decision, which will be in line with our commitment to the Equator Principles, is expected later this year.
The bank has stressed that it will listen to the views of all our stakeholders, including NGOs, to ensure that the final decision is balanced, objective, and based on all relevant and available information.”
At lunch, I went with a few trainees to visit the protest. We met with one of protesters from Friends of the Earth – and as I expected we shared quite similar concerns. Here’s what they have to say;
“Shell is asking for millions of dollars in public financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for a controversial oil and gas project in the Russian Far East set to cause the extinction of the Western Pacific grey whale and widespread damage to the local environment and salmon fishing industry.
Independent scientific experts believe that the off-shore platforms and subsea pipelines of Sakhalin II (the largest project of its kind in the world) represent a grave threat to Sakhalin Island’s ecology and economy. The project lacks an effective oil spill response plan, even though eight hundred kilometres of its onshore pipelines slice through wild salmon rivers and spawning beds, a primary source of income for many of the island’s residents. The dumping of dredged wastes into the Aniva Bay worsens the environmental impact, while local residents stand to gain little if any economic benefit from the project’s proposed revenue sharing scheme.”
The challenge arises because ABN AMRO is currently deliberating whether it will be the lead bank in financing the project. Interestingly, Russell (exMCP Ireland) is an AIESEC trainee working in the Sustainable Business Advisory, the department who is conducting the feasibility analysis.
On one hand we have the relationship with Shell that has a long and fruitful history and the powerful driving forces from the market, the management and the shareholders. On the other hand we have our newly forged direction as an award-winning Sustainable Bank. The Bank has received the 2006 WEC (World Environment Centre) Gold Medal for International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development to for its significant contribution to global sustainability. Namely for the creation, adoption, and implementation of the “Equator Principles”, a set of voluntary guidelines and principles that addresses environmental and social risk in project financing.
Somewhere in the middle of these two is the first quarter net profit of EUR 1.038 bln.
ABN AMRO is facing a litmus test that will determine not only the perception from external stakeholders but also a rising number of engaged individuals from within.
