Public banks say no to Sakhalin II10 March 2008
Shell is no longer asking the US Export Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) and the UK's Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) to fund its Sakhalin II project.
The announcement, reported by BankTrack, is a triumph for local campaign groups who have been trying to block taxpayers' money being used in the project.
Historic campaign triumph
Friends of the Earth has campaigned to stop the use of public money to finance big oil projects.
Our campaigning included building our own 200 metre long protest pipeline, and a symbolic 'whale funeral', in the heart of the financial centre of London.
Thousands of people supported our call for an end to public subsidy for climate changing fossil fuel projects.
This ensured that public pressure against these perverse subsidies was impossible for the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to ignore.
Public financing
Last year the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) pulled out of negotiations into how they could finance the Sakhalin II project.
Failure to meet environmental standards has now resulted in Shell withdrawing their request to the ECGD.
This means that no UK taxpayers' money will now be used to fund the project
Without the financing from IFIs the political, financial and reputational risks of any other bank involved in the projects financing has greatly increased.
This will hopefully inspire the Royal Bank of Scotland to reconsider its support for the project.
Public money should not be used to pay for projects which worsen climate change and lead to bad development round the world. We're delighted that big institutions like the ECGD are now turning their backs on financing fossil fuels.
Nick Rau, Friends of the Earth Energy campaigner
Further information
Sakhalin II
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The project includes drilling platforms off the coast of Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East.
The platform and pipelines connecting it to land threaten the critically endangered western Pacific grey whale.
These pipelines will stretch nearly the entire length of Sakhalin Island to a massive oil and gas terminal in the south.
This pipeline will pass over fault lines, important salmon streams which are crucial for islanders' livelihoods, and through the breeding grounds of many rare birds.
BankTrack
BankTrack is a network of civil society organisations and individuals tracking the operations of the private financial sector and its effect on people and the planet.
Further reading
August 2007
EBRD step away from Sakhalin II
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has chosen not to use UK taxpayers money to fund Shell's controversial Sakhalin II project.
Feb 2006
EBRD consult on Shell's Sakhalin II
The EBRD hold a public consultation meeting on using taxpayers' money to fund Shell's Sakhalin II project.
April 2005
Sakhalin success: good news for whales
After months of lobbying, Shell has agreed to shift the route of its controversial Sakhalin II oil pipeline to avoid vital whale feeding grounds.
© Nick Cobbing
