The German broadcasting network WDR paid attention to the investors of clustermunition in the program Monitor on the 29th of july 2010. Research of Profundo shows that the German bank Riester DWS (and other German banks), through different funds, account for the production of these deadly bombs. Riester DWS denies everything.

First WDR talked about the International Treaty of Cluster munition which started yesterday and spoke with the Norwegian diplomat Prof. dr. Gro Nystuen who researches cluster munition, human rights and corruption. They also spoke with Profundo director Jan Willem van Gelder. Van Gelder: "Theoretically Riester DWS could have sold everything by now. But their history shows that they always invested in the producers of cluster munition and therefore there's no sign that they've stopped their investments."

Watch the whole broadcast of Monitor at the website of WDR.

The Investment in Sustainable Forestry (ISF) Congress takes place on November 4th. The organizers of this events, international forestry consultant FORM International, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO) and Profundo, announced this today.  

On the congress the chances the forestry sector has to become more sustainable are being discussed, but also strategies financial investors can use when they invest in sustainable forestry. More than eighteen speakers will fill the day with discussions and the exchange of thoughts. Speakers are Cherie Tan of the Forest Finance department of the WWF, Julia Levashova of the Nyenrode Business University and Bart van der Linden of FSC The Netherlands and many more. The congress starts at 9 AM in Leusden.

Interested? Register at:

The majority over the Dutch government wants more transparency from energy companies about where they buy their coals. This because of a broadcast of Netwerk, a Dutch television show about current affairs, in which they indicated that half of all imported coals to the Netherlands are from South-Africa and Colombia, where the mining industry causes serious problems for human rights and the environment.

Mining companies in Colombia are, for instance, hiring paramilitary soldiers who are stopping anyone who crosses the their plans, such as union leaders. During these military operations many people were killed. The energy companies deny that they can trace where their coals are coming from because of many dealers in between. But the government doesn't believe them. Ger Koopmans, government member: "Energy companies have the responsibility to be transparent about their coals. I can imagine that it's difficult to know exactly where coals come from, but there are more difficulties in life."

Profundo pointed out the 'blood coals' already in March 2008 in the report The world behind the coal flow commissioned by Greenpeace Netherlands. The broadcast shows of Netwerk are continuing this topic. 

Pension fund PGGM stopped her investments in mining company Vedanta Resources. This because of the bad social environment in the company and because of the environmental problems Vedanta causes. A critical report of Profundo commissioned by the Dutch Amnesty International pointed these problems out to PGGM in december 2009.

Accompanied by other investors PGGM tried to convince Vedanta to make improvements on these environmental and social rights issues. These attempts didn't succeed. Therefore, since june 1st 2010 Vedanta Resources, and her three subsidiary companies, were removed from their investors portfolio.

The bonus policies of most Dutch banks are still inadequate. This appears from the sixth update of the Fair Banking Guide that was published today.

Most important are the high bonuses of investment bankers, because the bonuses of bank directors are being moderated and they are also more bound to longterm goals. Investment bankers therefore seem to earn a lot more than their board members. This seems to be an unbalanced situation.

The website of the Dutch Fair Banking Guide enables bank customers whether their bank has a good policy on various important social and environmental issues. Profundo researched the report on which the website was based.

BankTrack has published the report Close the Gap this week. It is the result of an extensive research project on the quality of lending and investment policies of major international banks. The aim of the project was to evaluate to what extent banks have incorporated sustainability criteria into their lending and investment policies. Seven key business sectors and nine sustainability issues were taken into account. In addition, the project reviews the performance of banks on transparency and accountability. The policies of 49 banks from 17 countries are scored on a scale from 0 to 5, using a benchmark developed by BankTrack in cooperation with Profundo. BankTrack concludes that the results show a mixed picture. Many banks continued to develop more and better policies but the overall quality is still low. The organisation hopes that banks are encouraged to continue this process and to disclose more information on their policies.

Profundo has done research into the financial links for the international report 'Update 2010 Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions; a Shared Responsibility', by IKV Pax Christi and Netwerk Vlaanderen. This report will ben presented at the UN conference about the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

This report points out that financial institutions still invest in the production of cluster munitions. In the Netherlands intstitutions do take responsibility, but due to lack of transparence it appears that they, unknowingly, do invest in cluster munitions. "The situation in the Netherlands is not bad, but the government should fulfill a monitoring task and should not leave this task in the hands of a peace organisation," according to Roos Boer of IKV Pax Christi.

Within several weeks the Dutch Lower House will discuss the ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

ABN Amro, ING, Rabobank, SNS Bank, Fortis Bank Nederland, Friesland Bank, Triodos Bank, ASN Bank, Robeco Bank and Aegon in a joint statement pronounce the hope that during the climate summit next month it is agreed that green house gas emissions are decreased by 50 to 80 percent in 2050. According to the institutions a ‘strong, adequate climate treaty’ is necessary to prevent the critical limit of 2 degrees increase in temperature. The banks call on the Dutch government to powerfully stimulate sustainable energy. With respect to their own financing and investment activities, they will pay more attention to sustainable energy projects and are prepared to participate in the Dutch Fair Bank Guide’s next research project, which subject is this topic. The results of this study will be published on April 1st, 2010 at the latest.

The Dutch Fair Bank Guide’s initiators welcome the banks’ statement ‘as a step in the right direction’. It is a good thing that banks promise to increase their investments in sustainable energy projects, according to Willem Verhaak of Friends of the Earth Netherlands and spokesman for the Dutch Fair Bank Guide.

Almost one year from the signing of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo, 138 financial institutions still provide US$ 20 billion worth of investments and financial services to eight producers of cluster bombs. These are the findings of a report published by the Dutch peace organisation IKV Pax Christi and Netwerk Vlaanderen. Research on the connection between financial institutions and producers of cluster munitions was performed by research company Profundo in Amsterdam.

More information is available on the website www.stopexplosiveinvestments.org.

An article in the ‘Groene Amsterdammer’ states that the Dutch company Riwal is still active as a supplier for the construction of the Israeli separation wall around the Westbank. By renting cranes to the construction companies involved, Riwal is complicit in human rights abuses.

In 2006, it was revealed that Riwal Israel was renting material for the construction of the wall. The Dutch parent company denied Riwal Israel to be an affiliate. However, research performed by Profundo assigned by United Civilians for Peace (UCP) showed that both companies indeed have the same owners. The then Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs described the involvement of Dutch companies in the construction of the wall as undesirable.

A year after the first edition of the benchmark study done by the VBDO (Association of Investors for Sustainable Development) in cooperation with Profundo pension funds show a positive development in creating their responsible investment policies. Despite this, there is still work to do regarding the translation of their policies to a bright combination of instruments.

The British bank HSBC will cut ties with a third of forestry clients in Malaysia and Indonesia, including palm oil and timber, said Francis Sullivan, the bank's adviser on the environment. The bank was criticised recently in a report written by Profundo and the Forest Peoples Programme, for financing oil palm plantations which take forested land where tenure is disputed without compensating the indigenous people living there.

A new report by the Forest Peoples Programme launched today demands greater accountability from HSBC, the biggest bank funding the palm oil sector in South East Asia. The fast-expanding palm oil sector is known to be a major driver of deforestation and the take-over of indigenous peoples' lands without their consent. Conflicts between indigenous peoples and palm oil companies are widespread in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Based on research by Profundo, the report identifies the 17 major palm oil groups which are among HSBC's clients and exposes contradictions between HSBC's policy on forests and forest products and the standards of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Rainforest Action Network (RAN) released a new report today ranking the carbon footprints of Canada's top banks: RBC, TD, Scotiabank, CIBC, BMO, Vancity and Desjardins. The report, researched by Profundo, analyzes and quantifies the greenhouse gas emissions of Canadian banks based on their financing of the fossil fuel sector. The "financed emissions" from Canada's five largest banks totaled 625 million tonnes of CO₂ in 2007, exceeding the total CO₂ emissions in 2006 from all energy use across Canada (583 million tonnes).

Based on the report’s results, RAN developed a free online Canadian bank carbon calculator that enables citizens to see the footprint of their personal deposit account and compare it to heir potential footprint with other banking options. The calculator is available at www.climatefriendlybanking.com.

The Dutch governmental pension fund ABP will use FSC-certified paper for all their communication means such as mailings, brochures, the ABP Magazine, and pension overviews.

The certification of the Forest Stewardship Council guarantees that the wood and paper are generated from sustainable managed woods. More than 94 million hectare of woods in the world is FSC certified. This management will be stimulated by using FSC-products. 

The Zembla documentary broadcasted in March 2007 on the investment policies of Dutch pension funds has been awarded by the dutch pensionfund magazine NPN in the category ‘Extraordinary Contribution to the Pension fund sector’. Based upon Profundo research, the documentary demonstrated that Dutch pension funds invest large sums in military companies producing cluster munition and landmines, companies involved in child labour and companies causing severe damage to the environment. The social impact of the documentary was large: while a year ago only 5 Dutch pension funds were involved in responsible investing, now dozens of pension funds are developing responsible investment policies and the forerunners have intensified and sharpened their policies. The documentary also stimulated pension funds in other countries to take responsible investing more seriously.

Today FERN publishes a new report that shines a light on the role that export credit agencies (ECAs) play in financing global deforestation. Through detailed case studies and research that included fieldwork in China, desk studies, and a financial review - by Profundo - of government-backed investments, FERN has been able to produce a set of policy recommendations that would, if implemented effectively, bring export credits in line with other publicly-funded institutions and reduce their potential for negative social and environmental impacts.

The Netherlands institute for Southern Africa (Niza) starts a public campaign in the Netherlands about platinum from South-Afrika under the title ‘Africa is not that poor after all'. Africa has abundant mineral resources such as platinum, gold, copper and oil. Sadly the African population does not profit from these resources and even loses opportunities because of them. Niza is exerting pressure on the Dutch representative with the United Nations to appoint a special reporter on the violation of human right by international companies. To make sure that the poor and vulnerable communities in countries such as South Africa are able to report their grievances and stronger guidelines for companies will be adopted. Profundo has researched on behalf of Niza which companies and financial institutions are involved in extraction and usage of South African platinum. Through the campaign site visitors can sign petitions to car producers, financial institutions and the government to support the campaign of Niza.

Many major European banks are funding the rapid expansion of agrofuel production in Latin America, according to a Profundo report published by Friends of the Earth Europe today. Friends of the Earth International urges banks to stop fuelling this agrofuel boom, which is leading to large scale deforestation, increasing human rights abuses and threatening food sovereignty.

The Singapore based palm oil trader and producer Wilmar International has admitted that at three of its plantations in Sambas (Indonesia) regulations and laws have been breached with regard to the acquisition of lands, compensatory issues and environmental impact reports. Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) and various Indonesian environmental organisations had filed a complaint on these issues with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in July 2007. In its response Wilmar is now promising to improve its practices. Milieudefensie sees this as a step in the right direction, but will continue to keep a close eye on the palm oil gigant.

On behalf of Milieudefensie Profundo researched the buyers and financiers of Wilmar International.

PGGM stops investing in the Chinese oil company PetroChina because of its involvement in the violation of human rights in Sudan. it is the first time that PGGM - after an intensive dialogue - ends an investment in a company because of its involvement in human rights. PGGM is the executive organisation of the large Dutch pensionfund "Zorg en Welzijn".

In November 2007 Profundo published an opinion article in the Dutch daily Trouw, drawing attention to investments by big Dutch banks and pensionfunds in companies supporting the regime in Sudan in an active or passive way. The opinion article was written because of the large media campaign "Tot Zover Darfur".

The German bank WestLB ends the financing of the Toka Tindung mine in the north of the Indonesian island Sulawesi. The local community and the provincial authorities are afraid that the goldmine will cause severe damage to the vulnerable and unique ecosystem of North Sulawesi. This would also cause damage to the local economy, which is based on smallscale tourism.

The mine is being developed by the British company Archipelago Resouces. Profundo researched the international financiers and clients of Toka Tindung and other new mines for JATAM, the Indonesian network of local organisations resisting polluting mines. Profundo also put JATAM into contact with foreign NGO's who could influence these financiers and clients. Under the pressure of the German NGO's Urgewald and Watch Indonesia!, WestLB, one of the four financiers of Toka Tindung, witdrew from Toka Tindung. The other three banks - ANZ (Australia), Investec (South Africa) and Société Générale (France) - are being suggested to do the same.

The global banking sector is progressing in the development of credit policies that include social, environmental and human rights factors. However, the pace is low: a number of banks have developed reasonable or good policies with respect to different issues and sectors, but the majority stays behind. Moreover, there is a yawning abyss between banks policies on paper and the all-day reality of credit supply.

That was the conclusion of the benchmark of credit policies of the 45 largest international banks in the world, that was published by the NGO-network BankTrack today. The study carried out by Profundo compared the content of credit policies of the banks with regard to 7 sensitive sectors - agriculture, weapons, forestry, fishery, oil & gas, mining and dams - and 7 crucial issues - biodiversity, climate change, toxics, labour, human rights, rights of indigenous people, and taxes - with existing international regulation and standards: international agreements and conventions, guidelines framed in multi-stakeholder initiatives, etcetera.

The report - Mind the Gap - also shows whether banks are transparent about their credit policies and whether they are willing to be accountable for it. Finally, the report discusses thirty recent cases of corporate lending that cause serious damage to human beings or the natural environment, by which at least one of the 45 selected banks was involved. The cases involve mining, oil pipelines, weapons producers, oil palm plantations, dams, pulp and paper factories and other controversial projects and companies. This excites doubts to whether the banks implement their responsible lending policies in practice. And according to BankTrack, implementation is of utmost importance: changes in credit policies of banks must lead to more sustainable choices in the daily lending business.

To prevent the financing of non-sustainable oil palm plantations, Profundo and WWF International presented a detailed manual for banks during the annual meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Kuala Lumpur. The handbook was produced with the financial support of the DOEN Foundation. Currently a dialogue is started with foreign and Indonesian banks, active in the Indonesian oil palm sector, and the Indonesian banking supervisor concerning the implementation of this manual. The objective is to make an end to the external financing of oil palm plantations which are violating the rights of local communities and threathening the environment, as well as to create a level playing field for all banks concerning this issue.

Every year, landmines and cluster munitions cause 15 to 20 thousand casualties amongst civilians worldwide. One quarter to one third of the victims are children. The misery that these bombs cause go even further than physical pain, handicaps and psychological damages; in the long term, socio economic development of regions or entire countries  can be paralysed by the presence of unexploded ordinance. On behalf of UNICEF Netherlands, Profundo prepared the report “Altijd bang” (Always afraid), covering the effect of landmines and cluster munitions on the lives of children, and the possibilities for the Dutch government to make a change in this field. In November, “Altijd bang” was presented today to the Dutch minister for Youth and Family, André Rouvoet.

At the request of the Indonesian environmental NGO Walhi, Profundo presented a two-day workshop for Indonesian NGOs in Jakarta on the involvement of international commodity and financial markets in the Indonesian commodity curse: deforestation, pollution of water systems, destabilisation and disappearance of ecosystems, the demise of very many wildlife species, an irreversible loss of biodiversity, expropriation of customary lands of local communities and loss of means of living. The workshop aimed to show how Indonesian NGOs can use international market linkages to strengthen their position and foster their aims. Financed by NC-IUCN soon a handbook on these issues will be published in Bahasa Indonesia and distributed among Indonesian NGOs.  

The Dutch environmental NGO Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) today launched a campaign to convince Dutch companies trading and processing palm oil to make sure that this product is supplied from sustainable sources. In the brochure "Vet fout!", Milieudefensie elaborates on the negative social and ecological impacts of the rapid expansion of the oil palm sector in Indonesia: deforestation, forest fires and decreasing means of subsistence for local communities. Palm oil is used in many consumer products, such as margarine, crisps, chips, icecream, confectionery, pastry, shampoo and detergents. Milieudefensie and other Dutch NGOs organised a business seminar on this issue in May 2004. The Milieudefensie brochure is based upon research reports by Profundo and AIDEnvironment.

After a visit of Netwerk Vlaanderen (Belgium) and the Dutch political party SP to the annual shareholders meeting of bankinsurance company ING in The Hague, ING has promised to stop investing in manufacturers of landmines. For Netwerk Vlaanderen Profundo researched the financial ties between KBC, ING, Fortis, Axa and Dexia with manufacturers of cluster bombs, landmines, nuclear weapons and weapons with depleted uranium.

Netwerk Vlaanderen presented a second brochure on the financial ties between Belgian banks and the arms industry today. As the five largest banking groups in Belgium (KBC, ING, Fortis, Axa and Dexia) after the publication of the first brochure in October 2003 claimed to follow a ‘very restrictive and prudent policy' with regard to the arms industry, the attention is now focussed on controversial weapons: cluster bombs, landmines, nuclear weapons and weapons with depleted uranium. Profundo has done research for Netwerk Vlaanderen in the preparation phase of this brochure.

A coalition of Italian NGOs, including Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale, has started a campaign against Banca Intesa, one of the largest banks in Italy. The campaign is focussing on the involvement of Banca Intesa in the financing of arms production and trading as well as large scale oil- and gas projects (such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey). The central theme of the campaign is Manca Intesa, meaning "lacking reason". Profundo has done research in the preparation phase of the campaign.  

The BankTrack NGO-network is criticizing the nine Equator Principles-banken involved in the financing of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey, which was arranged today. According to BankTrack the pipeline will cause environmental damage, undermine human rights, and destabilise the conflict-prone region. By participating in the financing of this project the nine banks - Citigroup, Mizuho, ABN Amro, ING, Royal Bank of Scotland, Dexia, KBC, WestLB and HVB - threaten the fragile credibility of the Equator Principles, according to BankTrack. Profundo has been researching the financing of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline on behalf of the BankTrack network.  

During the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) the NGOs organised in the BankTrack network have launched an elaborate list of recommendations to the Equator Principles-banks, entitled No U-turn allowed. The recommendations concern the implementation of the Equator Principles, including independent monitoring and compliance mechanisms. Profundo is cooperating closely with the BankTrack network on these issues.  

The urgency of the social and ecological problems caused by Latin American soy production was acknowledged by Dutch companies and financial institutions involved in trading and processing soybeans, oil and meal. The companies attended a seminar on the sustainable production of soy organised by a coalition of Dutch NGOs. The aim of the seminar was to initiate a dialogue, which should lead to the identification and development of concrete actions towards the sustainable production of soy. Research reports by AIDEnvironment and Profundo provided input for the seminar.  

After months of negotiations, the American environmental NGO Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and the large American bank Citigroup have reached agreement on an enhanced Citigroup environmental policy. The policy sets standards related to endangered ecosystems, illegal logging, ecologically sustainable development and climate change. According to RAN, "Citigroup has articulated the strongest environmental policies yet of any private financial institution in the world." RAN has been campaigning Citigroup intensively during the past few years, as RAN claimed the bank is globally active in financing companies and projects that destroy valuable forests. One of the cases on which these accusations were based is Citigroup's relationship with the Indonesian oil palm plantation company PP London Sumatra Indonesia, which was researched for RAN by Profundo and AIDEnvironment.  

The Belgian NGO Netwerk Vlaanderen has started the campaign My Money. Clear Conscience?, aiming at the financial ties between Belgian banks and Belgian and international military industries. The five largest banking groups in Belgium (KBC, ING, Fortis, Axa and Dexia) are under fire in this campaign, which receives a lot of media attention in Belgium. Profundo has done research for Netwerk Vlaanderen in the preparation phase of this campaign.

Sustainable regulation of the financial sector is necessary, was concluded by a workshop organised by the Royal Institute of International Affairs (now: Chatham House) in London. The workshop disussed possibilities to curb investment in illegal activities in forest areas. In most countries there is hardly any regulation and supervision on the financial sector with regard to the financing of clients contravening environmental or social laws. The contents of the workshop were prepared by AIDEnvironment and Profundo.  

The large Dutch timber traders PontMeyer and Jongeneel import timber from suspect Indonesian suppliers. This suppliers are involved in illegal logging, among other places in Tesso Nilo, which is an unique, very biodiverse nature conservation area in Riau (Sumatra). These allegations are documented in the brochure Suspect timber from Indonesia - Timber imported by Jongeneel and PontMeyer published by Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands). The brochure is based upon research by AIDEnvironment and Profundo.  

Over one hundred international advocacy groups and other non-governmental organizations released a public statement during the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), calling big banks and investors to task for their responsibility for the environmentally and socially harmful impacts of their activities. The Collevecchio Declaration on Financial Institutions was initiated by the BankTrack network, to which Profundo is closely related.