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Government faces environmental legal challenge over RBS
The World Development Movement, PLATFORM and People & Planet have today launched legal action against the Treasury for allowing public money, poured into the Royal Bank of Scotland to be invested in energy companies, and projects linked to climate change and human rights violations. Since RBS was bailed out in October 2008, it has contributed…
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Nationalised banks must go green
Environmental groups are suing the Treasury in an effort to ensure that RBS invests only in sustainable and ethical projects – This article was originally published at https://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/30/rbs-nationalised-banks-green. Since the banking crisis last year, RBS has remained firmly in the public eye as the most controversial bank in the UK. Beyond the populist pillorying of Fred Goodwin’s…
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Platform witness statement in RBS court case against the Treasury
Court Ref: CO/5323/2009 In the Administrative Court High Courts of Justice Between: Platform World Development Movement People and Planet Claimants and Commissioners of HM Treasury Defendant First Witness Statement of Kevin Smith Background 1. I, KEVIN SMITH of Platform, 7 Horselydown Lane, London SE1 2LN, make this statement in support of our application for permission…
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Whose Bank? Our Bank! – RBS & the Future
This article was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web newsletter, issue 11. Between October 2008 and March 2009, the Treasury pumped £33 billion of public money into ‘bailing out’ the Royal Bank of Scotland, to the point where the bank is now 90% owned by the UK taxpayer. Yet the government continues to insist that…
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RBS driving conflict in the Congo
This article was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web newsletter, issue 11. Despite relying on government funds and insurance for survival, RBS is still pumping millions into oil extraction in conflict zones. In March 2009, RBS was part of a consortium of 14 banks that lent $1,890 million to the Irish company Tullow Oil –…
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RBS goes Arctic
This article was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web newsletter, issue 11. In mid-March 2009, after the most recent bailout, RBS financed exploration work in previously untouched regions of Greenland’s Arctic. Acting as joint bookrunner with Merrill Lynch on March 11, RBS placed shares worth £116 million for Cairn Energy, a Scottish oil company. Although…
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The Oil and Gas Bank
The Royal Bank of Scotland has long ploughed money into fossil fuels – but now we own it, shouldn’t it stop? Kevin Smith looks at the campaign to get the bank to take responsibility for climate damage. First published at https://www.redpepper.org.uk/The-oil-and-gas-bank/ by Kevin Smith. One of the main causes of the current banking crisis has been the…
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A green economy could be ours
The government should use its shareholder position in the newly recapitalised banks to push for proactive change from within – This article was first published at https://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/21/banking-crisis. In early November, representatives from 20 different organisations from around the world gathered in Spain as part of the BankTrack network to lay out a response to the banking…
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Banks need to clean up their green act
Before they benefit from any kind of bail-out, banks should commit to reducing their investment in fossil fuels. – This article was originally published at https://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/08/fossilfuels.banks. On the same day as it became apparent that RBS would need billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to save it from collapse, the government’s climate change watchdog warned that we should…
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Cashing in on Coal – RBS, UK Banks and the Global Coal Industry
From concerns over air pollution and acid rain, to the recent rising awareness of carbon emissions and climate change, coal has been recognised as the dirtiest and most inefficient fossil fuel option. Despite this, coal is experiencing a global boom, with corporations opening new mines and commissioning new power stations. High street banks are making…
