Pulp and Paper

Andritz receives Austrian “Eyesore of the Year” award

(ECA Watch Austria, Vienna, 21 February 2014) On February 20th, the Austrian company Andritz received the “Eyesore of the Year 2013” award for its involvement in three dam projects with tremendous negative ecological and human rights impacts: Xayaburi in Laos, Belo Monte in Brazil as well as Ilisu in Turkey. At the beginning of the week the company signed contracts for yet another disastrous mega-project: a gigantic pulp mill in the middle of Sumatra’s rainforests. This new project involvement underlines the reasons for Andritz receiving this award, as it continuously takes part in some of the worst projects in the world… Andritz has received export guarantees from Austria’s export credit agency OeKB and when an Asia Pulp & Paper project suffered a financial collapse some years later, Austrian tax payers lost more than EUR40 million… In November 2012 ECA Watch Austria and Friends of the Earth Austria sent a letter to Andritz expressing concern about APP’s track record and offered a meeting with NGO representatives from Indonesia. Despite several attempts at contact, Andritz never reacted to this invitation.

Unusual Suspects

Unearthing the shadowy world of Export Credit Agencies. This report examines some of the problems with ECAs, and includes case studies on Climate change, Asia Pulp and Paper, Ok Tedi Mine, Large Dams.

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) default on its obligations to Export Credit Agencies

(June 11, 2012) Press release launched on the day that more than 30 European non governmental organisations (NGOs)  delivered a letter calling on governments not to fund a new pulp mill proposed by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), one of the world’s most controversial pulp and paper companies. The plant is planned to be build in Sumatra, Indonesia where APP is estimated to have already pulped more than two million hectares of natural rainforests.

Export credits: Fuelling illegal logging

A briefing sheet from ECA Watch member FERN, looking at the links between ECAs and illegal logging.

 

 

Case studies include:

  • Asia Pulp and Paper (APP)
  • Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Ltd (APRIL),
  • The Bolivia Brazil Natural Gas pipelines
  • The Camisea natural gas project

Pulp mills & ECAs

(Pulp Mill Watch, Berlin, 6 August 2007). Over the next five years, the global pulp industry is planning a massive increase in worldwide production capacity by more than 25 million tonnes. A new report Banks, Pulp and People: A Primer on Upcoming International Pulp Projects notes: “Export Credit Agencies play an important role in financing machinery and equipment purchases by pulp mills. While ECAs allow the purchase of modern equipment which is less polluting, changes in pulping technology mean that the production capacity of new pulp mills has increased substantially, meaning more demands on raw material, water and energy supply as well as needing transport and logistical infrastructure around the mill.” The report documents the environmental impacts of large scale industrial tree plantations to feed giant new mills in Australia, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Laos, South Africa and Uruguay.

Uruguayan pulp mills get ECA support

(Finnvera, Helsinki, 23 Feb. 2007) In November 2006, the International Finance Corporation and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency boards approved a $170 million investment by IFC and a guarantee of up to $350 million from MIGA for the Orion pulp mill project in Uruguay. Finnvera has now provided a USD 100,000,000 reinsurance guarantee.

Ence Finds New Site for Proposed ECA financed Uruguay Pulp Mill

(PaperAge, Hingham MA, USA, 13 December 2006) – Spanish pulp, paper and wood products producer Ence yesterday announced a new location for its planned 500,000 ton per year pulp mill in Uruguay after Argentina complained it would harm tourism and the environment at its original site on the Argentina-Uruguay border. The Spanish ECA (CESCE) and the International Financial Corporation (IFC) have received requests for support of this controversial project.

ENCE announces withdrawal from ECA supported papermill investment in Uruguay

(MercoPress, Montevideo, 22 September 2006) Spain’s ENCE announced Thursday that Uruguay remains a “strategic” player for its pulp industry interests in spite of having cancelled the construction of a pulp mill until a new location is agreed with Uruguay. Ence was planning to build the mill with Spanish ECA CESCE support just across from neighbouring Argentina, next to another mill under construction belonging to Finland’s Botnia, in an area which was being challenged for environmental reasons.