Friends of the Earth has issued a
press release highlighting the risk of next week's
World Economic Forum "greenwashing" the activities of corporations that have
already demonstrated their unwillingness to embrace sustainability if it gets in the way of more profits... despite high profile
social + environmental responsibility pledges made at last year's
WEF in New York.
See
here for FoE's examples, such as: (a) German bank
Westdeutsche Landesbank's activities in the
Ecuadorian Mindo-Nambillo cloudforest, (b)
Alfa Group [includes
Tyumen Oil +
Crown Resources] (the
oil that spilt off the Galician coast was from an ageing tanker chartered by wholly-owned subsidiary Crown Resources) + (c)
Petronas who took over Premier Oil’s entire Burmese operation when the company was split up even though the
Burmese Democracy Movement had called on multinationals to stop operating in Burma because they fear resulting profits help keep the country's military in power, as well as lending the regime credibility.
While the
WEF guests (mostly senior business + government leaders) hold private discussions, representatives from non-governmental organisations, including
Friends of the Earth International, and
representatives from developing + developed countries have decided to present an
alternative vision at a public forum called the
Public Eye on Davos, just a few blocks away...
As an indication of the thrust of this alternative vision
Tony Juniper, vice chair of Friends of the Earth International has 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 + 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 + communities, and
protection for the environment where we all live. We will also ask politicians to call the bluff on corporate greenwash.”
The
World Economic Forum takes place from
Thursday 23rd January until Tuesday 28th while the
Public Eye on Davos International Conference takes place from
Thursday 23rd January until Monday 27th.
I'll obviously do my best to keep abreast of developments at both meetings...