Thought as people have been reading the WWF's Living Planet Report 2008 they may be interested in finding out some of the campaigning that is going on around some of the issues it raised:
'Action is required urgently. For example, the investment decisions made for the energy sector in the next decade will determine its infrastructure for the first half of the 21st century. To achieve the carbon emission cuts needed to prevent disastrous changes in global temperature, investments must be pulled out of carbon intensive sectors such as the Canadian oil sands, and diverted to cleaner energy solutions.' (WWF, 2008)
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which owns NatWest, is the second largest bank in Europe and a hugely significant private funder of fossil fuel projects. Actively promoting themselves as the ‘Oil and Gas Bank’, they play a crucial role in making some of the most controversial oil and gas extraction projects a reality, from the Niger Delta to the Caucasus, from Angola to Qatar.
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Between 2001 and 2006, RBS provided over $10 billion in loans to oil and gas projects. The embedded carbon emissions resulting from these projects in 2006 were greater than the carbon emissions for the whole of Scotland. Also working as a hands-on partner to the industry, RBS structured the loan agreements and acted as financial adviser on over $30 billion of projects over the same period.
Since the government bail outs with public money RBS is now owned by the tax payer. However, there has been no change in policy and RBS continues to invest in massive fossil fuel extraction. We want RBS to shift its funding away from highly destructive projects such as tar sand extraction to a green new deal. This will help to generate jobs and safe guard our future.
Chanel 4 News
People & Planet, along with campaigning groups the World Development Movement and Platform, have taken The Treasury to court over the RBS bailout. Arguing that they broke their own rules when they allowed RBS to pump public money into projects which are trashing the planet and endangering human rights.
Take action: NOW
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