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Issue 4, April 2004 Groups Urge Congress to Reject the Central American Free Trade Agreement Citing Failure to Meet Requirements Under Trade Act of 2002 In a letter sent March 31, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam
The case of Harken Costa Rica Holdings – a firm with close corporate ties to Harken Energy of Texas, President Bush’s former oil company, and MKJ Xplorations of Meterie, LA – illustrates how CAFTA would create a separate and privileged judicial system for multinational investors that grants them greater rights abroad than at home. Harken Costa Rica Holdings obtained a concession agreement to drill for oil off
But under CAFTA,
Bank of
Bank of America announced on April 15 that it has endorsed the Equator Principles, a voluntary set of environmental and social screening criteria and guidelines that provide a framework for managing project financing. Private banks that have endorsed the Equator Principles agree to adhere to the environmental and social safeguard policies of the World Bank Group’s private sector lending arm – the International Finance Corporation. The Principles apply to development projects worldwide with a capital cost of $50 million or more. While Bank of America does not have a separate project finance department, it is still is involved in project finance transactions. “We welcome Bank of America’s endorsement of the Equator Principles, although as with any commitment of this kind, implementation is key,” said Michelle Chan-Fishel, program manager for Friends of the Earth’s Green Investment project. “We still have yet to see whether the Equator initiative will create demonstrable improvements in environmental quality and social justice in the areas and communities affected by project deals.” After its planned merger with Fleet, Bank of America will be the second largest bank in the United States. The company’s announcement brings the number of Equator Principles endorsers to 21.
Thirteen Public Pension Fund Leaders Call for Climate Change Reporting On April 13, thirteen major public pension fund leaders – including eight state treasurers and comptrollers, four labor pension fund leaders and the New York City Comptroller that collectively manage assets of nearly $800 billion – called on the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to eliminate any doubt that publicly traded companies should be disclosing the financial risks of climate change in their securities filings. In two separate letters to SEC Chairman William Donaldson, the pension fund leaders state that global warming poses material financial risk to many of their portfolio companies, and that those risks should be analyzed as a matter of routine corporate financial disclosure to the SEC. Surveys by Friends of the Earth in 2002 and 2003 revealed that while companies’ disclosure of climate change risks is improving, there is still a systemic and significant under-reporting of these risks among companies that are likely to be affected by climate change effects and regulations.
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