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French banks say no to Bangladesh coal plant

Three French banks have said they will not invest in the Rampal power plant, Bangladesh. Six months earlier, two Norwegian pension funds pulled out their investments from India’s National Thermal Power Corporation that is building the project.

During his visit to Bangladesh on 6 June 2015, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi endorsed the 1,320 MW Rampal coal- based thermal power project.

Under an agreement signed in 2012, India’s largest coal power company, the state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) would develop the plant in Khulna division as a joint venture with Bangladesh’s Power Development Board.

Activists are concerned the plant, less than 10 miles from the protected Sundarbans mangrove forest, would lead to its environmental degradation from increased ship traffic, dredging, and pollution of air and water.

Before Modi arrived in Dhaka, activists urged the leaders of the two countries to stop the plant. On 21 May, the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports held a rally in front of the National Press Club. If the project wasn’t stopped, the secretary of the organisation said it would escalate the movement.

On 5 June, other organisations such as National Committee for Saving the Sundarban, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolan, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, and Poribesh Bachao Andolan renewed their call to scrap the plant.

Their fears are not unfounded. India’s first environmental rating of coal-fired thermal plants was published by the Green Rating Project of the Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi. Since NTPC refused to collaborate, the rating was based on primary data and publicly available information. In India, the company operates 25 thermal plants and a further nine under joint venture collaborations. Six of these plants scored poorly on environmental parameters, rating a mere 16 to 28% compared to the best possible rating of 80%.

Last month, three French banks declared they will not invest in the project.

BNP Paribas, one of the corporate sponsors of the UN climate summit to be held in Paris in December 2015, also declined to invest in the plant.

Bank Track, a coalition of organisations tracking the financial sector, released its analysis of the Rampal plant under the Equator Principles, an environmental and social risk management framework for financial institutions. In its executive summary, the reports says,

    “The analysis shows that serious deficiencies in project design, planning, and implementation and due diligence obligations render the project non-compliant with the minimum social and environmental standards established by the Equator Principles, as well as the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standards.”

This failure to achieve even minimum standards could make any financial institution nervous of funding the project.

Loans are expected to fund up to 70% of the $1.5b project, while India and Bangladesh will fund the remaining 30% equally. However, the Bangladesh Planning Commission refused approval. It said the project was not compliant with the country’s existing policy nor was the funding and ownership of the plant clear. This leaves even the 15% Bangladesh stake in the project uncertain.

Even before funds can be raised to build the first plant, the Bangladesh power Development Board has inexplicably started acquiring land for a second plant.

source: http://www.theguardian.com