Co-op bank supports oil sands court case

Legal Brief

Publishing Date: 12 Mar 2009 11:51am GMT
Author: Mining, People and the Environment

The UK’s Co-operative bank will provide £50,000 (US$70,000) to assist a legal case in Alberta that could block the development of oil sands projects in the state.

The Co-op, which heralds itself as an ethical bank, is supporting the action being brought by the Beaver Lake Cree Nation which claims that pollution from oil sands disrupts their rights to hunt and fish in the region.

The funds will be used for evidence gathering to support the case.

The bank, which has already turned away US$1.5 billion in business since launching its ethical stance in 1992, recently extended its lending policy to include more stringent environmental and ethical policies.

These included extending its exclusions beyond the extraction and production of fossil fuels to those businesses engaged in the distribution of fuels with a particularly high global warming impact, particularly unconventional oil sources such as oil sands and certain biofuels.

“The development of these fuels has the potential for significant local environmental impacts and will accelerate increases in global greenhouse gas emissions,” the bank said.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has approved a US$330 million loan to Peru to help the country strengthen its environmental management, including in mining. A survey of environmental liabilities will be conducted to identify priority areas for clean-ups.