 |
|
|
What's New! Vol.
7, No. 1
| |
January 2008 - What's New! Indices - 2005 2006 2007 2008
"What's New!" is a periodic update to keep you informed of the latest on the ECA Watch website. What's New! features a wide range of materials related to the reform of Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) including NGO publications and releases, news articles, commentaries and announcements about the policies and practices of ECAs and ECA-financed projects world-wide. If you would like to receive "What's New!" simply add your e-mail to the ECA-Action list at www.eca-watch.org today! Questions? Email info [at] eca-watch.org
|
| |
1) |
New report guides campaigners to previously hidden export credit information |
| |
2) |
More fiddling while Rome burns - banks float non-binding carbon principles |
| |
3) |
IFC approves US$300 million for flawed Peruvian Camisea II LNG project |
| |
4) |
Britain Unsure on Sakhalin |
| |
5) |
Indonesia signs US$615 power plant loan with China's Export-Import Bank |
| |
6) |
World Bank continues efforts to engage China's Export-Import Bank |
| |
7) |
New Chairman for ECGD's Advisory Council |
| |
8) |
SACE chooses Lehman Brothers to advise on privatization |
| |
9) |
Chad's unrest is partially related to ECA supported pipeline project |
| |
10) |
New DebtWatch book covers Spanish ECA CESCE's support for Spanish Companies |
| |
— |
View Back Issues of What's New |
| |
|
|
| 1. |
New report guides campaigners to previously hidden export credit information |
| (FERN, Brussels, January 2008) FERN's new report (PDF) explains how the Aarhus Convention on access to environmental information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters is going to increase transparency, public participation and access to courts and judicial review. The guide, which focuses on access to environmental information, gives campaigners a starting point for exercising some of the rights enshrined in the Convention, such as access to information previously denied by European export credit agencies. |
 |
|
| 2. |
More fiddling while Rome burns - banks float non-binding carbon principles |
(RAN, San Francisco, 4 February 2008) Three U.S. banks have released a set of principles that could affect lending to coal-fired power plants. The Rainforest Action Network notes that the so-called "Carbon Principles" could be an important step toward recognizing the climate risks associated with financing coal plants, but are limited by their lack of any binding commitments and their failure to address the impact of destructive coal extraction methods. In November 2007, the European Parliament called for "the discontinuation of public support, via export credit agencies and public investment banks, for fossil fuel projects".
|
|
|
| 3 |
IFC approves US$300 million for flawed Peruvian Camisea II LNG project |
| (Reuters, New York, 5 February 2008) - Peru's Camisea II liquefied natural gas exporting project will receive a $300 million loan from the international finance corporation of the World Bank officials said on Tuesday. OECD export credit agencies in the UK, USA, Italy and Korea are also considering support for the controversial project which environmental NGOs have criticized on the grounds of insufficient project due diligence, especially on the upstream component; the lack of a full economic cost-benefit analysis; and continuing social and environmental issues that demand resolution. |
|
|
| 4 |
Britain Unsure on Sakhalin |
| (Moscow Times, London, 4 February 2008) Britain has yet to reach a decision on a $1 billion loan for the Sakhalin-2 oil and natural gas development after four years of deliberating, an official said Friday. Britain's Export Credit Guarantee Department has not decided whether the project meets its environmental criteria, ECGD communications director Steve Robert-Mee said. Indigenous people, rare salmon and gray whales have suffered from the work on Sakhalin island, according to James Leaton, WWF UK's Oil and Gas Policy advisor. |
|
|
| 5 |
Indonesia signs US$615 power plant loan with China's Export-Import Bank |
| (Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 31 January 2008) As thousands of its workers were staging a rally opposing a restructuring plan, state electricity firm PT PLN signed Wednesday a loan agreement worth US$615 million with China Exim Bank to finance the construction of two power plants in Java. The loans will be insured by Sinosure, the Chinese Export Credit Agency, and backed by a full guarantee by the Indonesian Finance Ministry. |
|
|
| 6. |
World Bank continues efforts to engage China's Export-Import Bank |
| (AllAfrica News, 23 Jan. 2008) During his recent visit to China, World Bank President Robert Zoellick restated the Bank's interest in teaming up with the Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim), the country's official export credit agency on financing development projects in Africa. The Financial Times notes that a recent analysis of Chinese lending in Africa by economists at the
OECD says there is
"an opaqueness about China's lending operations" which is damaging
confidence in the country. However, it says there is little evidence
that China is encouraging African countries to take on unsustainable
debt. |
|
|
| 7. |
New Chairman for ECGD's Advisory Council |
| (eGov Monitor, London 14 January 2008) UK Minister of State for Energy Malcolm Wicks today announced the appointment of a new interim chairman of the Export Guarantees Advisory Council (EGAC). Professor Jonathan Kydd, a development economist and Dean of the University of London's External System, has been an EGAC member since November 2000. He succeeds SustainAbility founder John Elkington. EGAC advises ECGD - the UK's official export credit agency - and its Ministers, on ECGD's activities, with a particular focus on how ECGD can support UK industry, while contributing to sustainable development in emerging markets and complying with Government policies on transparency and on combatting bribery and corruption, as set out in ECGD's Business Principles. |
|
|
| 8. |
SACE chooses Lehman Brothers to advise on privatization |
| (Thomson Financial, MILAN, 8 Jan. 2008) The Italian economy ministry said it has appointed Lehman Brothers as its advisor to assess strategic options to boost the value of SACE, the state-owned export credit insurance company. SACE could open up its capital to investors either through a stock
market listing, or a sale to private equity or industrial partner. |
| |
|
| 9. |
Chad's unrest is partially related to ECA supported pipeline project |
With complex roots going back 20 years or more, the current unrest in Chad is linked in part to oil revenues from an OECD export credit agency supported pipeline project that has created economic, environmental and social conflicts which could have been avoided if proper standards had been maintained as required by the OECD's Common Approaches on ECAs and the Environment.
|
|
|
| 10. |
New DebtWatch book highlights Spanish ECA CESCE's support for Spanish Companies |
(DebtWatch, Barcelona, January 2008) A new Debtwatch book outlines public mechanisms for the support of Spanish companies. "¿Debe el Estado ayudar a las transnacionales españolas? Impactos ambientales y sociales del apoyo pùblico a la internacionalización" provides information about Spanish ECA CESCE and other institutions of the Spanish state that provide economic or political support to Spanish companies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
