Log, Stock and Barrel - Financial Institutions in the Resource Sector
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline: Sangachal Terminal (photo: Hannah Ellis, FoE EWNI)
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline: Sangachal Terminal (photo: Hannah Ellis, FoE EWNI)
Introduction
Financial institutions, from the World Bank to private and public banks, private equity firms, and sovereign wealth funds, play a major role in the exploitation and trade of natural resources like oil, gas, minerals, and timber. They provide the financial resources and/or guarantees necessary for the investments. Some national and international financial institutions have set policy guidelines, standards, corporate codes of conduct, and safeguard policies at their end to address the ecological and social impacts of their investments. However, a large number of financial institutions have yet to issue such policy guidelines and standards. Setting up guidelines and standards is not an end in itself and there are several inherent limitations, but they are seen as key mechanisms to address social, ecological, and developmental concerns related to investments in the resource sectors.

Over the years, a number of activists and organisations throughout the world have been working on several aspects related to financial institutions and resource sectors. They have been using a variety of strategies to address these issues depending on their specific social and political context. The overarching objective of this dossier is to collect information on the different financial institutions, their role in the resource sectors and put together different mechanisms, tools and strategies to address policy issues.

Sectors and Problems

Logging, oil and gas extraction and mining are sectors with many dangerous effects for the environment and local communities. more»

Institutions

In order to exploit the resource sector, financing is needed. It can come from very different sources: private, commercial or public, development banks, guaranteed by export credit agencies, or provided by hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds or private equity funds. more»

Strategies and Campaign Tools

Influencing the financing of projects can be an effective way to influence the projects. Read about experiences, strategies and campaigns. more»

Actors, Documents, Contacts

October 11, 2008 - Read about actors in the different sectors or on the various institutions, find further documents. more»

The Authors of the Dossier
Regine Richter

Regine Richter works with the German environmental and human rights organisation urgewald. She is a campaigner on international financial institutions.

Kavaljit Singh – Kavaljit Singh works with Public Interest Research Centre, New Delhi, India. He writes on global capital flows, trade and development issues. His latest books are "Why Investment Matters" (2007) and "Questioning Globalization" (2005).
E-mail: kavaljit.singh@gmail.com

urgewald
Current

From Money to Metals
The Good Campaigners’ Guide to Questionable Funder$
Despite the current financial "crisis" investors are pouring money into mining companies and projects, with potentially negative consequences for thousands of communities around the world. Launched in 2008, and now available as a regularly-updated data base, "From Money to Metals" is a vital resource to discover who is funding what, and where, in one of the most potentially destructive of all global industries. By Nostromo Research, August 2009