CSR

Court proceedings filed against the Export Credit Guarantee Department

Conservation group WWF and social justice organisation The Corner House have filed court proceedings against the government's Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) in order to expose operations the two organisations argue are undermining the UK's "ethical foreign policy" and damaging the environment.

The groups reported that, as a result of a freedom of information request, it has been revealed that the ECGD, which is responsible for facilitating British business abroad, had committed to underwriting £1bn of contracts for the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC). The groups said this is despite years of telling the British public that this decision was still under consideration.

SEIC is responsible for Sakhalin II, a major oil and gas development in Russia that has been accused of causing serious environmental damage, including the threatened extinction of the Western Pacific grey whale.

As part of its freedom of information request, WWF said it received a letter from the ECGD to the SEIC - dated 4 March 2004 - in which the department gave a legally binding commitment to support Sakhalin II, subject to certain conditions being met. The day after the letter was sent, Department of Trade and Industry minister Mike O'Brien told parliament that no decision had yet been made.

James Leaton, WWF-UK oil and gas policy adviser, said: "ECGD's support for the Sakhalin II project effectively gave the backing of the UK government to an environmental catastrophe. ECGD has paid lip service to the environment, but shows no intention of taking concrete action to prevent damage caused by the projects it backs".

September 2007