Equator Principles

Esteves Backs $14 Billion Amazon Dam Itau Shuns

Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Billionaire Andre Esteves’ Banco BTG Pactual SA is helping fund construction of a 29 billion-real ($14 billion) dam opposed by Amazon indigenous groups after Brazil’s two biggest non-state banks opted not to take part. BTG, based in Sao Paulo, is passing through 2 billion reais of a 22.5 billion-real government credit line granted to Norte Energia SA’s Belo Monte dam and will lend at a rate of as much as 3 percentage points above Brazil’s 5.5 percent long-term reference rate, according to a BTG official who asked not to be identified because he isn’t authorized to speak publicly. H

Letter to THPC About Ongoing Concerns of Affected Communities

Thursday, September 20, 2012
Robert Allen Jr. General Manager Theun-Hinboun Power Company Ltd. P.O. Box 3382 Vientiane, Lao PDR RE: Concerns about Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project Relocation and Resettlement Sites Dear Mr. Allen, I am writing to follow up on THPC’s response to the letter International Rivers sent to you on February 3, 2012 and to communicate unresolved matters of concern reported to International Rivers by headmen and villagers in the relocation sites of Ban Phousaat, Ban Tha, Ban Phoumakgneng, Ban Thasala (new and old sites), the resettlement site of Ban Nongxong, and affected villages in Zones 3B and

Malaysia’s Murum Dam Sets Poor Precedents for Best Practice

A view of the Murum River, where the Murum Dam is located
A lack of transparency and participation surrounds the issues of resettlement and environmental impacts of the Murum Dam.

Banks Must Prove They Give a Dam

Thursday, November 26, 2009
Opinion piece published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age Given the role banks played in the global financial crisis, it is reasonable to expect they would understand the need to demonstrate their ethics with transparency. No longer is it reasonable to assume shareholders and customers will simply accept a "trust us, we have good policies" response. But this is exactly the response of ANZ when it comes to the Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project - a dam and diversion project under construction in central Laos. This huge project is a hydro-electric scheme, with power being sold across the bor

Theun-Hinboun: Expanding Failure

Monday, November 16, 2009
An assessment of the Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project’s compliance with Equator Principles and Lao law The Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project – a dam and diversion project under construction in Central Laos – violates the Equator Principles and Lao law, according to this report. Expanding Failure documents how Lao villagers are being sold down the river in a hydro deal that will displace thousands of people from their homes and land, and deprive thousands more of access to fertile rice fields, riverbank vegetable gardens, grazing lands, forests and fisheries. The dam project undermines loca

Western Banks Sell Lao Villagers Down the River

Erosion along the Hinboun River
Monday, November 16, 2009
The Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project, currently under construction in Central Laos, is displacing thousands of people from their homes and land, and depriving thousands more of access to fertile rice fields, riverbank vegetable gardens, grazing lands, forests and fisheries. International Rivers and BankTrack have published a report which documents how three private banks that are financing the project - Australia's ANZ Bank, Belgium's KBC Bank, and France's BNP Paribas - are violating their own guidelines and Lao law in supporting the project. The banks funding the project have promised that

Still Waters, Deep Troubles

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Still Waters, Deep Troubles; this video by International Rivers and BankTrack tells how the Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project in Laos threatens the livelihoods of more than 50,000 local people.

Western Banks Violate Rights, Law in Lao Dam Deal

Monday, November 16, 2009
ANZ, BNP Paribas and KBC Investment in Theun-Hinboun Dam Violates Equator Principles and Lao Law The Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project - a dam and water diversion project now under construction in Central Laos - poses a threat to the livelihoods and food security of local communities living in the project area. The project also violates Lao law and the Equator Principles, according to Expanding Failure, a new report and video released today by International Rivers; BankTrack, FIVAS, Les Amis de la Terre; and Justice and International Mission Unit, Uniting Church in Australia. The report, based o

Spain's Banco Santander Criticized for Hypocrisy

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Spain's Banco Santander Criticized for Hypocrisy
 Funding Destructive Dam in the Amazon While Adopting Green Principles Washington, D.C.- Spain's Banco Santander, which has been facing growing criticism for being a lead financier in a highly controversial dam project in the Brazilian Amazon, recently signed on to the "Equator Principles," a set of socially and environmentally responsible financing guidelines adopted by a growing number of private banks. At an annual meeting of the Equator banks this week in Washington, D.C., environmental organizations are challengin

Brazil's National Destruction Bank Does it Up Big

Image BNDES
Image BNDES Archive The headline in today's Folha de São Paulo daily stated ironically "Jirau, suspended by court order, gets biggest loan ever from BNDES" This week, environmental agency Ibama fined the consortium (headed by Suez) building Jirau Dam on the Madeira River in the Brazilian Amazon US$408,000 for building a coffer dam without following its proscribed construction plan, and construction was suspended. This marks the second time in a month that the consortium has been punished for violations of environmental regulations. But yesterday, the project, which

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