“Most banks only share information about the ten companies that hold the most shares in the investment fund,” explains senior researcher Myriam Vander Stichele from the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), who carried out the research. Investment funds cluster the shares of dozens, hundreds and sometimes thousands of companies. In addition to customers in the Netherlands, ING customers in Australia and Germany can also buy funds with shares in palm oil companies. The three aforementioned Dutch banks offer funds that include shares in First Resources. PT SAL is an indirect subsidiary of First Resources, one of the largest palm oil producers in Indonesia. “The wetlands also became very dry because of the canals that were dug for the palm oil plantation and the coconut trees often catch fire.” “They have to get their wood from far away now and the transport costs have made the boats more expensive.” She explains that pests started to appear on the coconut trees after the company cut down the tropical forest and the wood started to rot. The people in this village are boat builders, coconut farmers and fishermen, Devi explains, and lost most of their income in recent years. The community has complained to the government, Devi says, but little action has been taken. Several years ago, a company called PT Setia Agrindo Lestari (SAL) was granted a permit to use 170 square kilometers (66 square miles) to create a palm plantation in and around Pungkat. The people have to buy expensive bottles of mineral water and there are hardly any fish left.” “Now the water has become polluted by the chemical fertilizers the palm oil company uses. She has been to the village several times. “Before, the villagers could drink water and eat fish from the river,” says Devi Indriani, an advocacy and campaign manager at WALHI (Friends of the Earth Indonesia) via Whatsapp video from the nearby city of Pekanbaru. Pungkat in Sumatra is an example of a village that suffers from the effects of the palm oil industry, activists say. In the end, the consumers decide.Īngélique Laskewitz, executive director, VBDO If your bank doesn’t offer the sustainable funds you want, there are plenty of sustainable options elsewhere. These problems, such as deforestation, environmental degradation, pollution and the exploitation of workers, were described in another report published recently by Friends of the Earth Netherlands, titled “ Draw The Line: A black book about the shady investments of Dutch Banks into palm oil.” Palm oil can be found in an endless array of supermarket products, including shampoo, soap, peanut butter, chocolate spread, milk powder, pizza and chips. “Although not all of the 81 selected palm oil companies have similar social and environmentally abusive practices,” the researchers write, “the industrial palm oil industry as a whole remains rife with controversy and human rights violations in the production chain.” The report examines the links between the three Dutch banks and a selection of mostly Indonesian palm oil companies and conglomerates. Some of these funds have been labeled as “sustainable,” despite having shares in companies with a track record of misconduct, according to the report, titled “ Investment Funds: The untold story about the link between Dutch banks and industrial palm oil companies.” Dutch banks ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank are failing to inform their customers that investment funds they offer include shares in palm oil companies damaging the environment in Indonesia, according to a new report by Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands).
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