PARADISE IN PERIL:
Protect VIP from Fossil Fuel Financing
The Verde Island Passage is under attack – an oil spill far from being solved, and the massive expansion plans for fossil gas and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) facilities surround the marine corridor.
A number of dirty energy companies are taking part in the race to destroy the VIP, including San Miguel Corporation and Shell. International financial institutions are pouring money into the companies responsible for the destruction of the Verde Island Passage such as Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, Barclays UK, and HSBC.
No fossil fuel project would come to life if not for the institutions pouring various types of support into their money pipeline. Protect VIP from fossil fuel financing now!
Verde Island Passage advocates confront climate change funders in Europe
Protect VIP, a coalition of communities, fisherfolk, environmentalists, and other advocates for the protection of the Verde Island Passage (VIP) on Wednesday, May 3 (UK time) joined Urgewald, Extinction Rebellion, and other cause-oriented groups in disrupting the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Barclays and Standard Chartered in London due to the banks’ financing of major fossil fuel projects in the Verde Island Passage.
Barclays is a major financier of Shell’s $66 million liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Batangas, while Standard Chartered is a major financier of San Miguel Corporation (SMC), which is the biggest proponent of gas projects in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, and whose subsidiary chartered the ship which capsized and caused the oil spill now affecting VIP.
“Our paradise is in peril due to the unhampered financing that flows to new fossil fuel projects. In the Philippines, Standard Chartered is supporting San Miguel Corporation’s gas plant while Barclays is behind Shell – corporate giants that are out to destroy the Verde Island Passage. Local communities and fisherfolk worry that these projects will be at the expense of VIP’s richness and their own livelihoods. We will continue to resist these deadly projects and protect the Verde Island Passage,” said Fr. Edwin Gariguez, Protect VIP Convenor.
Avril de Torres, Deputy Executive Director of the sustainability think-tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), a convenor of Protect VIP, was given the opportunity to ask a question during Standard Chartered’s AGM in which she raised the continued financing of SMC given the conglomerate’s difficulties in the energy sector of late.
“San Miguel Corporation is facing massive opposition, forced to withdraw three environmental permit applications and cancel two of its fossil fuel power supply agreements. It disclosed last year that it is losing billions of Philippine pesos because of its fossil fuel power plants. Fitch Group recently recommended a status of underperform to this corporation, concerned that it will be difficult for San Miguel to buy back bonds that it has issued. I want to ask Standard Chartered, what steps are you taking in the near future to assess the risks and divest and deny further debt and investment to very risky stranding fossil gas assets in emerging markets like the Philippines?” asked de Torres.
Standard Chartered claims to support the aspirations of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to no more than 1.5°C and publicly committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions from their operations by 2025 and from their financing by 2050.
The participation of Protect VIP in the AGMs of the two banks is part of their tour of European banks responsible for financing gas projects in the Philippines and to demand they divest from these investments.
“We want to go to the homes of these multinational banks and make them see that their financing activities have consequences far beyond their dollar-filled spreadsheets. Their money allowed the climate emergency to happen, and their funding of gas projects in our country will have serious negative consequences for our future. The Philippines is not some slot machine that will cough up profits for them every time they insert investments into fossil fuel projects. Their activities make the present and future worse for real people,” said Gariguez.
European Banks that fund Fossil Fuel Projects
in the Verde Island Passage
The biggest financier of San Miguel Corporation with 1,138 million USD.
The largest financier of Shell with a total of 4,642 million USD.
Invested in Shell with 543 million USD.
The 5th biggest financier of Shell with 1,846 million USD.
The 15th biggest financier of San Miguel Corporation with 1,846 million USD.
The 4th biggest investor in San Miguel Corporation with 30 million USD.
The 5th biggest financier of Shell with 1,846 million USD.
The 11th biggest financier of Shell with 941 million USD.
Invested 1,059 million USD into Shell. Most of this comes from its subsidiary DWS ($917.71 mln).
The 18th biggest investor in San Miguel Corporation with 5 million USD. Moreover, the 32nd biggest investor in Shell with 918 million USD.
Invested 142 million USD into Shell together with the Allianz Group. In total the group has invested 395 million USD into Shell.