Home > Press releases > 2003
17 Jan 2003
Business leaders, politicians and the rich converge on the Swiss ski resort of Davos next week (23 January) for the World Economic Forum (WEF) - the annual gathering of the powerful which plays an important role in discussions of world economic and social policy.
But the meeting takes place amidst growing criticism of corporate greenwash. Despite a high profile pledge made a year ago at the WEF in New York, WEF corporations have already demonstrated their unwillingness to embrace sustainability if it gets in the way of more profits. Friends of the Earth is highlighting cases of bad practices in the year since WEF 2002 [1].
The international environmental network will call on world leaders attending the WEF to act to establish rules for big business and rights for citizens affected by bad business practice, rather than accept more greenwash promises. Friends of the Earth and a coalition of organisations is holding a counter-conference called the Public Eye on Davos, which will cast a critical eye on the WEF agenda [2].
Last year the WEF moved abruptly to New York - reportedly because of security concerns in the Alpine location. The Swiss government has attracted the Forum back to Davos, but security is expected to be intense. In previous years, attendees have been enclosed in a ring of steel, with all access to Davos cut off. This year for the first time in Swiss history airspace is to be closed over Davos during the WEF and the Swiss military will be there in force. But following criticism of the unsubtle clampdown on protests in 2001, there is a permitted public protest expected on Saturday 25th January.
Friends of the Earth will be seeking out politicians at the WEF to ask them for new international commitments on rights for citizens and communities to protect them from bad practices.
The invited "community of top decision makers" - including senior business leaders from corporations such as Nestle; Shell, Vivendi Universal, British American Tobacco, BP, Nike and Tyumen Oil (involved in the Prestige disaster) - will benefit from "a unique club atmosphere" [3] to talk to world leaders about the way forward for the world.
Previous WEF meetings have paved the way for the creation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - both of which have been severely criticised for contributing to global inequality through their damaging impacts on poor communities.
While the WEF guests hold private discussions, representatives from non-governmental organisations, including Friends of the Earth International, and representatives from developing and developed countries will present an alternative vision in a public forum, just a few blocks away. The Public Eye on Davos International Conference takes place from Thursday 23rd January until Monday 27th January - with all sessions open to the public and the press.
The WEF, which is funded by contributions from the world's foremost 1000 companies, used its 2002 appearance in New York to exploit the memory of the September 11 tragedy while promoting its usual agenda: that the "alliance between the world's largest trading partners today is more important than ever". It called for an end to political posturing and regulatory divergence, which stand as a barrier to free trade [4].
Friends of the Earth challenged the corporations at last year's Forum to support civil society calls for binding international rules on multinationals under the UN. The issue was a major feature of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2002. Friends of the Earth wrote to all the chief executives at the Forum and will reveal their responses during this year's event.
Tony Juniper, vice chair of Friends of the Earth International, said:
"The World Economic Forum's slogan this year is 'Building Trust' yet many of its participants are chief executives of the companies responsible for the very worst ravages of corporate globalisation. It is a bitter irony that many people cannot swallow. How can Galician fisherfolk trust the corporations which participate in the WEF that have damaged their environment and livelihoods?
"If politicians at the World Economic Forum are serious about improving the state of the world, they should accept Friends of the Earth International's challenge and support a global regime to curb corporate power, with guaranteed rights for citizens and communities, and protection for the environment where we all live. We will also ask politicians to call the bluff on corporate greenwash."
Friends of the Earth International will have spokespeople available in Davos throughout the meeting.
Updates will also be available at www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/corporates/
[1] Last year WEF leaders made a high profile statement on corporate
social responsibility. For example, Taizo Nishimuro, Chairman of the
Board or Toshiba Corporation, Japan said: "We are moving towards
global environmental standards and we have to be responsible as we help
governments establish those standards," (see: www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/From
%20Business%20Leaders%20to%20Global%20Leaders_2002?open)
Examples of WEF corporations not acting in the interests of sustainable development since these statements were made in the last year include:
WestLB [WEF member]
The German bank "Westdeutsche Landesbank" (WestLB) is leading
a group of international banks providing $900m million to construct
of a new crude oil pipeline across the Ecuadorian Mindo-Nambillo cloudforest.
The project is expected to result in irreversible damage to large areas
of pristine tropical rainforest full of endangered species. The indigenous
population (who have been excluded from decision making over the pipeline)
fear for their future as their local culture, social networks and communities
are threatened. Protests have been met with gunfire and people shot
dead during demonstrations. WestLB argued the project would match the
World Bank's environmental principles. When independent studies revealed
the contrary, the World Bank publicly expressed serious doubts about
the pipeline project. Disregarding such concerns, the pipeline ploughed
through the rainforests of Ecuador last year.
Alfa Group [includes Tyumen Oil a WEF member and Crown Resources]
Mikhail Fridman, head of the group that owns Crown Resources and Tyumen
Oil, attended last year's WEF. The oil that spilt off the Galician coast
was from an ageing tanker chartered by wholly-owned subsidiary Crown
Resources. Representatives from Alfa companies are expected at this
year's WEF. Crown Resources operates under a Swiss flag of convenience
(it is listed as a company in Zug) although its directors are mostly
British and Russian and its largest office is in London. The company
chartered the Prestige to carry Tyumen's oil from St Petersburg to the
Far East and the wreck of the Prestige which subsequently sunk continues
to leak oil from the seabed off Galicia today. The corporation has been
criticised for continuing to charter rustbuckets to carry dangerous
cargoes around the World despite the history of major oil spill incidents
such as TotalFinaElf's Erika spill of 1999.
BP [WEF member]
In 2002 BP pressed ahead with its plans to build a pipeline from the
Caspian Sea in the East to the Mediterranean in the West. Every year
it will transport oil equivalent to nearly a third of the UK's yearly
carbon dioxide output. BP has signed so called host government agreements
with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey which make it exempt from laws,
including environmental and labour, that may affect the profitability
of the pipeline. The needs of BP, such as its demand for water, will
be put above those of local communities.
Nestle [WEF member]
At the end of 2002 Nestle was exposed for demanding $6m in compensation
from the famine struck Ethiopian government. The compensation was for
the nationalisation of a subsidiary company many years before under
a previous Ethiopian government. Following media attention Nestle has
made it clear that it will still demand the compensation, but redirect
it towards famine relief in the country. Furthermore Nestle threatened
that the failure of Ethiopia to pay up over this issue would be looked
on badly by multinationals who may hold back from future investment.
Shell [WEF member]
Shell's South Durban refinery was established under South Africa's apartheid
regime and is sited directly next to poor black communities. Shell has
allowed the refinery to deteriorate and it has been at the centre of
23 serious pollution incidents and operation problems since 1998. The
most serious being when a Shell fuel pipeline leaked more than a million
litres of petrol below people's residential homes. In 2002 faced with
the threat of a legal challenge by the local authority, Shell broke
off all dialogue with officials and lobbied Durban's mayor, who then
called for the reconsideration of legal action. Shell has, through its
first public environmental report for their refinery in 2002, misinformed
the public of the historical pollution. By using apartheid law still
in operation, Shell refuses the local community access to information.
Petronas [WEF member]
The Burmese military government has been at the heart of human rights
controversy for many years. The Burmese Democracy Movement has called
for multinationals to stop operating in Burma because they fear resulting
profits help keep the military in power as well as lending the regime
credibility. This year Petronas took over Premier Oil's entire Burmese
operation when the company was split up. The UK Government had asked
Premier to pull out of Burma. Petronas has given no indication of its
intention to do so.
[2] www.evb.ch/index.cfm?page_id=1772&archive=none
[3] World Economic Forum on-line - www.weforum.com
[4] "Charting a new course for transatlantic relations" www.weforum.com
Contact details:
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
Media team
